Borrowed
by Jack Acacia
Summary: So I guess getting blown up is pretty terrifying. Waking up in a different world? Also terrifying. Meeting a younger version of you from a parallel dimension and figuring out that their fated to fail when the world rests on their shoulders? That's even more terrifying. Being told that you were brought to this world to prepare them for their impending doom? Oh boy.
1. Chapter 1

"Why did we stop? Private, sitrep!"

"Captain, there are children playing on the street."

"Just go through them. We've got civies in the vehicle behind us. They're our main priority. We can't risk any firefights."

"But sir. They're children."

"Private, you've seen what they do. They will use children to get to you. Go."

The Humvee started to move once more, children playing on the street continued to play, glancing looks at the Humvee expecting for it to stop.

 _Bump._

 _Bump._

 _Bump._

The humvee slowly trudged on in the narrow alleyways and roads of the slums.

"Ja- I mean, Captain…"

"Sergeant...not. Not now. I know...but right now we need to remain vigilant."

"...Right…"

"We've still got a ways to go before we get in the main streets of the city. It'll be safer once we can pick up some speed."

The captain looked away from his comrade. She stared at the back of his head, worried about his mental health as he kept his eyes on the abandoned buildings around the squad. He looked into the darkness of the alleyway. His eyes wide at what he spotted.

"Everyone, get down!" He shouted.

Gunfire erupted as the squad in the Humvee ducked, bullets hitting the sides of the vehicle. The gunner on top of the vehicle was lit up as he was trying to fire back at the different angles the convoy was being shot at. The sergeant cracked a peek towards the transport behind the humvee. Getting completely lit up by gunfire, there was gunfire on all sides. The captain's voice could be heard in the moment.

"Private, pedal to the metal, let's go, go, g- SHIT!" The captain was cut short with his driver being shot in the chest from hostiles from the front of the humvee. "Help me move him, let's go!" The sergeant and the other soldiers in the humvee began moving the Private towards the back of the Humvee. The dead gunner was then brought back into the back seat of the truck. The captain quickly moved over to the driver's seat and tried to get the vehicle moving, the intensity of small arms fire all around the Humvee completely halted the engine. The Captain and Sergeant both decided they were going to bolt for the nearest line of cover.

"Echo-2, 3, and 4, this is Echo-1, we are pinned down, and our vehicle is stuck! We don't have the time to move it! Backing out is going to be too damn slow! We're going to have to fight our way out and go on foot."

The captain decided that the best way to carry on would be to fireman's carry the shot private. The captain and sergeant looked at each other, rifles ready, soldier on the captain's back. The two waited for an opening as the gunfire hailed on.

"Now!" They both shouted, the two swung open their respective doors and bolted towards the nearest piece of cover. Jumping into the closest abandoned building and making their way to a wall while returning fire from any tracers or bullets that would whizz by them. Hugging the wall they were finally able to get a bearing on the situation. Hopefully the rest of the convoy was able to get out safely. The two heard returning fire in the midst of the gunfire, and thankfully the others soldiers in the convoy were fighting back.

The Sergeant shot two hostiles entering the room and the two began moving into the next room, trying to get into a safer position. Hugging the wall, the sergeant raised a flashbang grenade and looked at the captain. He nodded.

"Flashing!" The sergeant shouted, throwing the grenade and then having the captain breach the room. The captain fired his rifle at the hostiles in the room. The sergeant following behind and the two getting ready to lead an assault into the building.

"We've still got a ways to go." The Captain sighed while looking at the Sergeant. "Come on."

The Sergeant took point, rifle raised as she was nearing a doorway into the next building. She crept in, only to be greeted by two insurgents, one of them was reloading his weapon, only to be shot by the captain as he supported his fellow comrade. The other hostile charged the sergeant, pushing the firearm out of her hand and attacking her with a knife. The captain attempted to fire away and support his comrade, but his weapon clicked. Rather than switching to his sidearm, he decided that the quickest movement to help the Sergeant was to throw the Private's body onto the insurgent, effectively tackling his enemy from a range and knocking him out. Moving the Private's body off to a corner of the room, the two looked at each other and dug themselves into the room. The captain inspected the ejection port, removing the jammed bullet.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks. What happened?"

"Rifle jammed."

"That's surprising."

The two heard several footsteps on the other side of the wall of the room they were in. The two quickly reloaded their weapons and then readied themselves for a firefight. They were greeted by four gunmen and another man with a vest strapped to his chest. The two opened fire fighting for their lives ducking in and out of cover, trying to focus fire on the man with the vest, only for him to come charging, detonator in hand. Charging the Sergeant, the Captain immediately sprinted towards the Sergeant as the detonator was pressed. He jumped towards the Sergeant, tackling her to the ground as the explosion began, holding her and trying to take the explosion for her.

"RUBY!"

* * *

" _Ruby! Oh god, please. No, no stop please…"_

 _A blonde man kneeled over a smaller woman in a black dress and red cape. She seemed lifeless as another woman with a deathly pale complexion with clear veins spread around her face walked towards the two._

" _Like I had broken your comrades before, and your family and friends. Ozpin sent you to the grave to face me."_

" _You bitch!"_

" _And you, Jaune Arc, will be joining her soon as I take away everything you love. Just as I did her."_

 _She approached the blonde man, as he stood up, sword and shield in hand, his armor torn and battered, he charged the pale woman. What could only be described as an absolute black, an almost shapeless mist took a bladed shape in front of the pale woman. Jaune pressed forward, only to be impaled through the ankles, collapsing on the floor._

 _Screaming out in pain he tried to get back up, on to fall back over. He stood up on his knees, trying to fight to the bitter end._

 _The pale woman bent over to be face to face with the knight, her voice motherly and assertive. And in a threatening tone she said to Jaune._

" _Do you, Jaune Arc, believe in destiny?"_

* * *

Captain Jaune Arc woke up in a forest. He rubbed the back of his head...what a strange dream…

He looked around and had no idea where he was. Moments ago he was in Afghanistan, escorting a truck full of civilians to get them to an established safe zone. He remembered….

He remembered a firefight that erupted. Shot driver. Dead gunner. He remembered he and his sergeant made a break for it after their humvee broke down. He remembered fighting through a building. He remembered bringing the shot driver with them, trying to get him medical attention as soon as possible. He remembered setting him down in a room that was cleared out, digging in because he and his comrades heard a squad of men coming for them. He remembered four or five guys breaching the room. He remembered a vest….

He remembered a detonator.

He remembered an explosion…

And now he was here. He tried communicating on radio. "Echo-2, 3, 4, this is Captain Jaune Arc. If anyone can hear me, please respond. I repeat, if anyone is out there, please respond."

Radio silence.

He tried changing frequencies.

"Ranger squad. Ranger squad, if you're out there please respond. I repeat, please respond. Anyone?"

Radio silence.

"Shit."

He looked over to his side to see his sergeant on the ground motionless. Jaune checked her pulse. She was still alive.

"Ruby. Hey. Wake up." He tapped her face a few times. She was out cold. Jaune sighed.

He stood up and tried to check what equipment he had. At this rate, it would be smart to see what he could do to adapt to the forest. He was still wearing his scarf, battledress, and kevlar. He strangely had all the ammunition he originally deployed with. He still had his rifle, M320, pistol, 12 Gauge Shorty, and knife. He had grenades, utility, equipment, and so on.

The only thing he was missing was his helmet and goggles.

He looked around and breathed in the air. The forest was dense and felt clean compared to the dusty deserts he was used too. Wherever he was, it was beautiful. The light beaming through any cracks in the trees. And all the trees have a wonderful shade of light green above. The captain smiled at the refreshing scenery.

The knocked out sergeant more or less had the same amount of equipment as well. Jaune sighed and picked her up in a fireman's carry.

"She's going to bitch when I call her heavy…"

He picked a direction and started moving. Several dozen meters went quickly as Jaune slowed down. He felt like he was being watched. Using one hand to support Ruby, he placed his free hand on his holster.

There was movement in the bushes. Lots of it. He slowly unholstered his sidearm and raised it at the source of the noise.

…

…

Black creatures jumped out of the bushes, wolf-like creatures with all black fur. Their eyes red and their faces covered in a pure white mask covered with red veins. Similar to the face of that woman in Jaune's dream. He stood his ground and stared at the animals. They didn't seem normal, standing tall in their hindlegs, all the creatures began surrounding the two soldiers.

"So...who here wants a doggy treat?" Jaune joked.

The first wolf to attack was the one right behind Jaune. He quickly turn around and shot it in the aped of its jump, killing it instantly with a bullet to the head. Jaune turned to the one to its right and began firing at it. After firing 4 bullets and making it drop he sprinted forward and shoved the beast out of his way. He turned back to see the dead monsters disintegrating. He also saw about 5 creatures chasing him. With all the added weight, it was clear the wolves were faster than him.

He fired blindly hoping that by killing of the pack, he could intimidate the other creatures they shouldn't attack. They continued to chase the soldiers. Holstering his weapon, Jaune reached for a high explosive grenade. Priming the grenade, he dropped it and scrambled to move as fast as he could. The monsters ran above it, and Jaune timed it perfectly for the grenade to go off. A bit of shrapnel grazed his shoulder but whatever. He could live with it.

A single monster remained, and it stared at Jaune. He raised his handgun and fired away, dropping the foul beast.

"Y'know, I always thought putting down dogs would be just a bit harder." he cracked.

Releasing the magazine, Jaune placed another one into his handgun.

Looking off into the distance, there seemed to be what looked like a castle looming in the distance.

* * *

Sergeant Ruby Rose woke up with water splashing on her face.

"Come on Rose, how much sleep do you need?"

Captain Jaune Arc sat by a beautifully clear stream and refilled his canteen. He splashed water on the Sergeant again to wake her up.

"Seriously, you're super heavy. And carrying you for like, 8 klicks is exhausting." he said. The girl sat up, and took in her surroundings.

"Where...are we?"

"We're in a forest if you couldn't tell. Exactly where, I don't know. But keep your guard up."

"Wait why?"

"There are these monster things. Something out of one of those Japanese animes you watch, or a fairy tail. I fought a pack of giant werewolf creatures. I think I wrestled these raptor things or whatever."

"Wait seriously?"

"Yeah. So safeties off, keep your guard up."

"Captain, I'm…not following, you're not the kind to believe supernatural things."

"Just. Take my word, okay? I refilled your canteen. And we're in a bit of a clearing. Just keep your guard up."

"Okay…So where are we headed?"

"There's a castle-like building overlooking the forest, just beyond a few klicks on the other side of the river. "

"...alright."

The girl awkwardly got up and stretched, trying her best to get used to the forest around her.

Jaune looked her over head to toe. The small girl he knew looked okay. She was just over 5'4", with black hair that would have gone to her shoulders in a bun. Her hazel eyes checked over her weapons and her equipment. Her fatigues were slightly different than Jaune, sporting a red hood with a urban digital camouflage pattern. On her right arm was an orange scarf outfitted into an armband. She wore a dusty and red scarf over her neck to protect against the desert conditions from her area of operations.

For such a small girl, Ruby was armed with the same M416 rifle that Jaune had. However instead of an attached M320 grenade launcher, she had attached a M26 MASS underslung shotgun. She was further armed with a Mk.11 Mod. 0 DMR, giving her the better range between the two soldiers. To top it all off with several grenades was her HK45 Compact handgun.

"Y'know, for such a small girl, I really do wonder how you managed to get into the military anyway. Top of your class no less." Jaune joked. Ruby looked back and pouted.

"Hey, on paper, I'm a better soldier than you!"

"And I'm still one the best captains around." He grinned. "Besides, you're cute, you've got guns, nothing wrong with cute girls with guns!"

He found it comical knowing that this girl was almost a full foot shorter than him and yet she carried almost the same weight in terms of equipment as him. Jaune's expression changed immediately when the thought arrived.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Why?" Ruby asked confused.

"Do you remember the last thing that happened before you passed out?"

"I...remember an explosion. To be honest. I remember you tackling me."

"Anything else?"

"Not really no. I think I had a dream…"

Jaune's brow raised at that statement.

"What kind of dream?"

"It was you. And I was...dead I think. You were fighting some lady out of a Japanese horror movie."

"Ah. I...see."

"Why?"

"I think I had the same dream as you. Deathly pale lady, and finished the dream by saying 'Do you believe in destiny?'"

"Yeah that was it!"

"This...this is weird."

The two were pointing at each other and had a questionable look on each others faces. The two decided to stop questioning it for now.

"Anyway Captain. I'm good to go."

"You can just call me Jaune, Ruby. We're...we're not with our unit. There's honestly no real point. And I'll get what you mean."

"Alright…"

"Besides, y'know. Outside of the army we're…"

Ruby smiled.

"Alright!"

As the two stood up and prepared to move, a bear like creature jumped out of the bush around them. The two readied their rifles, and stood next to each other.

"He's a big guy." Ruby said.

"For you." Jaune responded, smirking. Ruby glared at him.

The ursa charged.


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, so I think I can cross that out on my bucket list." Captain Jaune Arc said.

"What?" Asked Sergeant Ruby Rose.

"Yeah, like, I wrestled and fought a bear. Dude, its awesome." He grinned.

The two immediately stopped talking as their jaws dropped. The castle before them taking the attention of both soldiers. Finally on the pathway towards the building, the two observed their surroundings, taking in the view.

"Wow, this place is amazing…" Ruby said in absolute awe of the architecture around her. The castle the two were traveling to was finally reached. And finally the two saw that it wasn't a castle but some sort of school. There were uniformed students moving from place to place, living their everyday lives.

"Y'know, I swear that this is something out of X-Men. Or Harry Potter." Jaune said. The two looked at each other at the school gates, unloaded the magazines in their rifles, turned the safeties on and emptied their chambers.

On all their firearms..

Well, maybe not their handguns, but still.

"I'm kinda surprised that this is a school." Jaune said.

"Yeah, to be frank with a place this magnificent, I imagined it was a mansion or a palace or sorts to a king or something." Ruby chirped.

"Let's get some information where we are. Because I'm starting to think that we're not in Afghanistan anymore..." Jaune said.

"Ya think?" Ruby teased. Jaune looked at her with a deadpan expression.

"What I mean is that I don't think we're on Earth, or at least, our Earth anymore. You and I are experienced soldiers. And you and I have been on several operations around the world, as young as we are." Jaune continued. "But I have never ever heard of or seen this place in any brochure, exhibition or whatever. Or at least I don't think you have considering you're the history buff. And I don't think I've seen any kind of wildlife like that before."

Ruby scratched her head. "Understandable."

The two continued on, the school around them having a large main avenue leading to a gigantic door. The school was peaceful, and for every student continued their daily lives.. The two soldiers stood out like sore thumbs.

"Hey Jaune! What are you wearing?" A student would say as they passed the duo.

"Hey Jaune, what are you up to?" Another student would say.

"Hey dude, sup? What'cha got strapped to you?" Another student would say while lounging around in the courtyard.

"Hey…" The captain awkwardly responded to each passerby, waving his hand. He looked at Ruby. "I...I'm pretty sure I don't know these people, right?" Ruby just shrugged.

"Why do these people know me?" He questioned.

The two continued to converse and question what was going on when a familiar voice called out.

"Hey Jaune-y boy! What are you wearing, dweeb? Who's your friend?" Jaune immediately froze up hearing that voice. It's a voice he hadn't heard in roughly eight years. He turned around.

"Cardin? Cardin Winchester?" He asked.

"Yeah, who else do you think?" Cardin responded. With him were three other guys that looked familiar.

"Dove? Sky? And uh…"

Jaune froze up looking at the fourth member of Cardin's posse. He scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry, I don't actually remember your name. Was it Brussel? Like the veggie? Did your parents hate you?"

"It's Russel you punk!"

"Ah. Sorry, it's been a while…" The four looked at each other and shrugged.

"We're gonna make sure you remember us then…" Dove said with a grin punching his fist into an open palm, trying to intimidate Jaune.

Jaune looked Cardin from head to toe, super confused.

"Did...you get taller?" he asked. Cardin was a teen who was a solid half a foot, if not a solid foot taller than 6'2" Jaune. Jaune remembered Cardin as a guy around his height but…I guess high school was a weird period.

"Like, woah dude, have you been taking HGH?" Cardin growled.

Cardin was the tallest of the group. The boy was a giant, built in nothing but muscle mass. Other than his mass, Jaune honestly forgot what he looked like. He had a pretty jock like face. Dove, Sky, and…Brussel were just as forgettable

"Do you know them Jaune?" Ruby asked. Jaune looked back.

"Yeah. Over the years at high school we...got to know each other." He responded.

"How so? Friends?"

"Bully."

"Oh."

Cardin raised his eyebrow. "High scho- Man, what are you talking about? I'm going to make sure you never forget me!" He spat. He charged forward raising his arm to punch Jaune. Jaune immediately dodged to the right only to be met with a flurry of kicks from Russel. Blocking them all with Jaune's forearm, Jaune stopped to talk.

"Wait, come on dude. Why are you attacking me?" Jaune asked. Ruby placed her hand on her holster. Jaune looked at her and raised his hand as if to tell her not to. Ruby smiled and nodded. Cardin snarled, "You insulted me, dumbass!"

"I don't wanna fight you buddy…" This line stopped Cardin and his gang. The four all looked at each other and laughed. Jaune only raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"You? Fight me? Come on Jaune-y boy. This is the part where you just get hurt. You don't have the balls to hit me." Cardin responded.

Jaune lifted his finger to stop Cardin for the moment. He walked over to Ruby and told her to hold onto his rifle. He also took off his kevlar and battle dress and wore nothing but a plain white T-shirt on his torso, Jaune's well toned body starting to show. His right arm having a small cut from the shrapnel from his grenade from the forest. He cracked his knuckles through his Operator gloves. He looked back at Cardin and smiled. A crowd was beginning to form.

"Come on buddy, I fought a bear and insurgents today waaay scarier than you." Jaune boasted. The posse charged him, with Cardin bearing the vanguard. Cardin opened up with a right hook as Jaune swooped under and used his right arm to hook onto the inside of Cardin's his left hand to grab and reach onto Cardin's collar, Jaune kicked the back of Cardin's right knee, putting Cardin down to a single knee. Sky attacked with a roundhouse kick from Jaune's right. Turning, Jaune ducked under Sky's leg and pushed towards his crotch. Delivering an uppercut fist to Sky's crotch, Jaune followed that by straight up picked him up and threw him at Dove who was charging Jaune. Being able to face Russel alone, even for a few moments, Jaune got into a fighting stance and put pressure on Russel's offense. Russel threw a straight to Jaune. Jaune deflected it and swung a hook into Russel's ribcage, able to make Russel reel back in pain. Jaune threw several punches towards Russel's face, a kick to the abs, followed by grabbing his neck and arms with his arms, and throwing him down to the ground.

Jaune looked back at the four. And while he was able to bruise them, he realized that they immediately stood back up.

"I see you boys have been hitting the steroids too!" He quipped. Round two was on the way. Sky was recovering from being hit in the balls, so Jaune targeted first. Dashing past the three others and dodged several punches, Sky wasn't paying attention as Jaune smashed his fist onto Sky's face. The force of the punch caused Sky to actually flip in mid air, only to land face flat on the ground with Jaune kicking Sky in the dick one more time for good measure. Sky fell to the floor, wincing in pain and struggling to get up.

Jaune laughed as the remaining three were bewildered by Jaune's skill in hand to hand combat.

"Two birds, one fist?" He quipped. The three just looked at him.

"Y'know the saying? Like….y'know…" Jaune asked. "Come on, the joke isn't funny if I have to explain it…" He sighed. "Cause the birds are his balls, and I just punched them and basically just put him out of the fight…? Like y'know, hitting two birds with one stone?"

"No we got it, dumbass. We were wondering how come you got okay at fighting!" Dove shouted.

"Oh this? Call it years and years of hard work." Jaune smiled.

"Years? I think we're calling it dumb luck." Cardin snarled.

Russel and Dove both charged forward, Jaune strafing so that the two would get in each other's way. Once lined up, with Dove in front, Dove attempted to wind up a punch while Jaune responded with a spinning back kick, square into Dove's chest, launching Dove into Russel. Not giving the two any room, Jaune charged forward, and threw a barrage of punches into Dove's face. While the two were on the floor recovering from the attack, Cardin threw a punch to the back of Jaune's head. Jaune recoiled in pain. Woah.

Cardin hit like a tank. And Jaune actually meant that, hurting even worse than a normal punch to the back of the head. For the first time, Jaune was beginning to realize that the people he's fighting have the endurance the and the stamina to keep up with him. Sure their hand to hand fighting techniques were absolute garbage but Jaune realized that the people he was fighting against are stronger than the average human. Something was off about the four Jaune was fighting.

Reeling from Cardin's devastating punch, Jaune thought about the situation. Russel and Dove were recovering as Dove was showing signs of being the closest to being downed next. Cardin stood tall and Russel was ready to fight. Jaune motioned his right hand. "Come on guys, I can do this all day." He smiled. Time to fight harder, after all, these guys could take the pain.

Russel threw the first punch this time. Jaune deflected it as Cardin followed up with a tackle with his shoulder, Jaune dodged and shoved Cardin out of the way, proceeding to get Russel by the neck and throw him down. Jaune ran over and jumped up, kneeing the recovering Dove in the face.

"Ohhhhhhh snap!" Jaune shouted. "Two more to go!"

Cardin was on the offensive, Jaune blocking and dodging punches and kicks left and right. Russel was at the end of his rope, trying to throw another punch as Jaune dashed past him, and suplexed Russel into the ground, knocking him out.

"So. The leader finally shows." Jaune said, grinning. "Are you the stage boss?"

Cardin snorted. Jaune pushed forward, Cardin throwing a kick and Jaune responding with a jump and a punch to the face. Cardin recoiled back as Jaune charged forward and grasped Cardin's neck into a choke hold, jumping into the air and forcing Cardin's face to fall into the ground below.

Jaune stood up and dusted off his shoulders. The crowd around him started cheering. Ruby smiled at him as she handed back his equipment.

Putting on his battledress and kevlar, and re-equipping his unloaded weapons he was congratulated by the people around him. People asking him questions how he got so good at fighting, where his sword was (which Jaune had no idea about), and what he and his partner was wearing.

As the crowd quieted down after a while and split, the two expected to see the rest of the school. Only to be visited by a man with white hair and a green suit and scarf. He held a cane in one hand a mug of coffee in the other. His spectacles so small that Ruby couldn't help but giggle.

Behind this man were eight uniformed students.

The first was a girl that was roughly shorter than Sergeant Ruby Rose. Wearing the school uniform, she was also wearing a red cape. She had silver eyes as this girl looked at Jaune and Ruby with wide eyes. Her hair was black with red highlights and she looked amazed at the fighting that just took place. Jaune noticed how similar the two looked, almost as if they were siblings. Ruby stared back, raising an eyebrow but remaining silent, smiling at the caped girl and waving hello.

Then a white haired girl that Jaune instantly recognized. Having a side ponytail, wearing the uniform, wearing high heels, he never forgot her piercing stare. She had a scar on her left eye, and had incredibly pale skin.

Then came a girl with a bow. She was much taller than the first two. She had amber eyes and long flowing raven like black hair. Jaune and Ruby recognized her from their work in the field, remembering one of the most impressive stealth operatives they've ever met.

The fourth girl was a busty blonde, wearing fingerless gloves and having lilac eyes she was someone that Ruby was so fond of. And someone that Jaune had several fun memories of. The two soldiers smiled at the sight of her.

Then came the weirdest part. Jaune was looking at a mirror of himself. He saw a blonde student his exact height and wearing the school uniform. This student Jaune was looking back in utter disbelief and confusion. His eyes were wide staring at a younger version of himself.

Next was a girl with striking red hair and emerald eyes. Jaune felt his heart drop as he laid eyes on her. Her hair in a ponytail and she wearing a tiara. She stared back, slightly confused at the situation. Jaune had to make sure he didn't tear up upon seeing her, forcing a pained smile the moment he laid eyes on her.

Next was a girl Jaune was pretty familiar with. She had orange hair and freckles, green eyes and the biggest smile in the world. Jaune instantly remembered his college days, smiling at the sight of this orange haired girl and the man standing next to her.

And lastly, was a boy with long black hair and a stripe of pink it. He had pink eyes and stared with a silent expression. Jaune smiled remember that indifferent expression, the same one his male best friend always had.

Captain Jaune Arc and Sergeant Ruby Rose stood awkwardly, as the other nine stared back.

Equally as awkwardly.

"Mister Jaune Arc, I presume?" Said the white haired man with glasses. The captain simply nodded.

* * *

The eleven individuals were walking through the main hall of the academy. The hall full of bustling students, all of them split to make way to the twin Jaune Arcs in the room and the man with White hair. Students whispering about the confusing two in camouflaged uniforms. The white haired man simply told the two the follow them to his office. The crimson haired girl with green eyes was the first to speak up to the Captain during the walk.

"Are you...really Jaune Arc?" She asked. Jaune nodded.

"Yeah. I...am. That's my name." Jaune looked at her for a second, following up with a cheesy line.

"Short, simple, ladies love it." He grinned, only to receive a dumbfounded look from eight pairs of eyes. Sergeant Ruby Rose punched her captain in the arm while cracking up, snorting at the fact that her Captain just said such an old line from college.

"Oh my god, he really is." The blonde girl said. Apparently his sense of bravado was a trait that crossed both Jaunes. She whistled loudly. "Guess this one's a lady killer too."

"What's your name?" Jaune asked the Emerald eyed girl.

"Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos." She said with a smile.

Jaune shook her hand smiling back. "What a wonderful name." There was a hint of sadness in his voice that went unnoticed.

The group made it to an elevator, and as crowded and stuffy as it was, they all fit. The white haired man pressed a button and the elevator began moving.

When the elevator doors opened again, the group of eleven stepped into a large room with transparent green walls. The room seemed like it was operating inside of a giant clock, giant gears, turning and ticking as each second went by. The two soldiers were again mesmerized by the sight around him. If this was his office, this guy had a taste for class.

The man with white hair sat down at his desk, and looked at the group of ten in front of him.

Oh. It was his office.

"Do you happen know who anyone in this room is? And where you are?" He asked. The Captain responded.

"Not…exactly."

"I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Professor Ozpin. And I am the headmaster of this school, students if you will, please introduce yourselves."

Pyrrha was the first to speak up, stating her name again to start off the roll call. "Hello again! My name is Pyrrha Nikos, it's very pleasant to meet, um, another Jaune." She said, beaming.

The busty blonde went next. "I'm Yang Xiao-Long, lady killer. Nice to meet ya!"

The short girl with black hair and red highlights went next, enthusiastically introducing herself. The Sergeant could only help but smile a bit. "I-I'm Ruby Rose! I'm the team leader of Team RWBY!" The captain raised an eyebrow, thinking about the team name and realizing that this girl is the same as his sergeant. She seemed a bit younger, he internally laughed at the fact that no one recognized the sergeant.

The orange haired girl went next, getting in the captain's face and enthusiastically shouting her name. "NORA!"

Wait was that it?

I mean, I guess so.

The captain just stared, Sergeant Rose giggling.

The Asian fellow in green followed up. "Excuse her, she's incredibly hyperactive. She's Nora Valkyrie. My name is Lie Ren. You can call me Ren."

The black haired girl with the bow spoke up. "Blake Belladonna." The captain simply nodded at this.

The white-haired pale girl bowed. "My name is Weiss Schnee, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, uhm. Jaune."

And finally, Jaune Arc (younger) spoke up. "I guess, I'm...Jaune Arc? I'm not really getting this. Are you a clone? Or like, what?". Captain Jaune Arc laughed at this.

It was finally the Captain Arc and Sergeant Rose's turn to speak.

"Well. I guess it's our turns. My name is Captain Jaune Arc of the US Army, 25th Infantry Division. Lancaster Squadron. "

"And my name is Sergeant Ruby Rose of the uhh, same division…same squadron."

The entire room focused on the Sergeant. And then the girl in the cape, the supposed leader of a team. And then back to the Sergeant.

"Wait what?!" Cried the majority of the students. The Sergeant couldn't hold in her laughter, she was cracking up and laughing at the fact that nobody really recognized her. She couldn't blame them either. She wiped her eye with a finger trying to hold in her laughter.

"Ever since we arrived and you guys showed up, I was eyeing my doppelganger for a while. She looks and dresses exactly the way I did back when I was in younger in high school." explained Ruby. "I stopped putting highlights in my hair once I entered the military program in my college. I let it grow out and I guess I did get taller over the course of high school, even if it isn't by much. I'm pretty different in appearance I guess."

The captain followed this up. "So before this, to be perfectly frank, gets anymore confusing. I guess let's just get names out of the way. Just call me Jonathan so we don't get your Jaune and I confused. It's usually the name I use whenever I need a different name."

"And you can call me Rose! Everyone already kinda does this anyway…"

The group was processing the fact that there were doppelgangers of the two team leaders. Ozpin spoke up.

"So...You said that you're part of an army. Correct?"

"That is correct, sir."

"You don't have to call me Sir, Captain. But I am curious, where exactly is this Army from?"

"The United States of America."

"I...don't think I've quite heard of that one."

"Yes, well…"

Jaune, er Jon had no way of really explaining it.

"Can you explain how you arrived at my school then, Captain?"

"Alright." Jaune started, "Rose and I were part of a fireteam with several different squads. We were escorting several civilians through a dangerous portion of the city we were in. We were ambushed, forcing us to abandon the vehicles that we were in and travel by foot. Eventually, we landed ourselves into a room where we were being assaulted by a few hostiles. The last thing I remember before waking up in that forest was a man who blew himself up trying to take the Sergeant and I down."

"I...see. Do you happen to know what might have caused you to wake up in the Emerald Forest?"

"We are absolutely clueless, Professor. We spent a solid year and half in a country full of nothing but sand. Neither of us expected to get blown up and magically wake up in a forest full of green."

Ozpin thought about what the captain had just said. Ruby spoke up.

"Professor, what is this planet called?"

"We call our world Remnant, Sergeant."

The two soldiers looked at each other.

"Well we're clearly not in our world anymore." Rose said quietly.

"How do you mean?" Inquired Ozpin.

"For starters, our planet is called Earth. We have places with amazing architecture, and forests all around the world. It's just...most of the Earth doesn't have giant animal monsters. Or doppelgangers of us. Or people with superpowered durability while fighting. Jau- I mean, Jonathan should've been able to take down those students immediately if it were on our world."

"I see." Said Ozpin, taking in the information. Jaune brought up a theory.

"Professor, if I may, I was thinking that we might be part of a parallel world. Or an Alternate universe of sorts."

Ozpin raised his brow, thinking about what the Captain had just said.

"Other than Jaune and Ruby here, when I meant 'not exactly' when you asked if we knew any of your students, Rose and I meant exactly that. We sort of know everyone already in this room."

"Oh?"

"Yang Xiao-Long is Rose's half sister, with beautiful long flowing blonde hair, she has brown eyes in our world, but has the same confident smile she does now.. Blake Belladonna is a friend of ours who's basically a super spy. Weiss is an heiress to a powerful company from a different country in my world, Nora and Ren were my college roommates." Jon explained. "They all look exactly like you guys, if they were slightly younger. Or had normal colored eyes. Uhhh, Ren, you stopped dying that one bang of hair pink when you graduated college, Yang, you became an Olympic Boxer, Ruby and I became leaders in our own respective squads. What I'm trying to say is that I don't think that the coincidences that we all have doppelgangers is just that, a coincidence. What did you say this school was called?"

"Beacon Academy."

"Yeah, like, Rose and I went to a Beacon University. And I met several of my comrades who were standing here, there. Many of us were in a ROTC military program."

Rose spoke up to speak. "And you Professor Ozpin, you're a director of a high-end espionage group operating within our country. Your secretary is a woman named Glynda Goodwitch."

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee, everyone intently listening to what the captain was saying.

"I see." Said Ozpin. "Tell me something Jonathan, how old are you?"

"I'm 26. Rose here is 24."

"I see."

"Is something wrong with that?"

"My students here, with the exception of Miss Ruby Rose, are all 17 years of age. Ruby, as you

can imagine is 15."

"And that's…"

"I'm just theorizing. But maybe you are here as more experienced and combat hardened individuals for a reason. Maybe you have a purpose to fulfill."

"And that purpose is?"

"To help train my students here at Beacon."

"Train? What, are they military? They're still high schoolers from our world at that age." Ozpin began to stand up, and face away from the soldiers, looking out the window.

"These students are not quite military. Do you have hunters and huntresses from where you come from?"

"They're people who hunt animals for food or sport in our world."

"That's also not quite what our hunters are. We are in a world that is in a constant state of growing conflict. Each and every student enrolled in this academy is a training to be a warrior to fight in this conflict against what we call the Creatures of Grimm. These might have been the supernatural monsters you mentioned earlier."

"How does that imply that we're here to train your students? We're not exactly the most fit to teach this world. Considering our backgrounds."

"You are not simply a Captain or a Sergeant by simply being a participant in the military, correct?"

"Yeah, I lead several squadrons of fireteams. Ruby the same but with a smaller group of soldiers. But-"

"Then you two are most prepared to teach how to lead."

The Captain and Sergeant looked at the students around them. They all looked so normal. Are these students really warriors that fought giant monsters?

"That said." Ozpin continued. "What are you going to do now?"

"If...if we could find a way back home, that would be wonderful."

"And we will do our very best to find that means then."

"Can we think about our decision in teaching your students?"

"Yes. I think there is an extra dorm room for the two of you if you two need a place to stay."

"That would be wonderful."

Ozpin and the eight students started welcoming the soldiers to the school, addressing them as possible teachers and respectable combat veterans. As the room quieted down Sergeant Rose spoke up "What's going to happen to the students that Jonathan beat up?"

Ozpin simply smiled. "Those students attacked first, correct?"

* * *

Jonathan Arc and Rose...erm.

Yeah, Rose, entered the room that Ozpin had allowed them to borrow for the time being, the two found a large room with four beds and additional space to move around. The two placed down their equipment and looked around the room.

There was a fully functional bathroom with a working toilet and shower. The two placed their equipment down, took off their battle dresses and kevlar and fell on two of the beds provided.

The students that were in Ozpin's office were shoo'd away to class, giving the two time to take in their surroundings and the world around them. The two sighed loudly as they laid on their respective beds.

"It feels like college all over again. Huh?" Smiling as Rose took in the comfort of the bed.

"I can't believe I'm in a bed. And that we have a shower. This feels amazing." Jon replied

.

"I know, right? A fully functional shower? I can't wait to wash down and just get so clean." Rose squealed, excited that she had some semblance of comfort.

"Still. It's...it's kind of weird. Are we dead? How did we get here?"

"Yeah...and the fact that everyone here is a younger version of the people we know?"

"Parallel Universe?"

"Iunno."

"And then there's...her."

"Jaune…I'm sorry..."

The two took out a flat white device similar to the smartphones of their world. Ozpin had given them 'scrolls', mobile devices that were capable of wireless texting, calling, and many other applications. Jon and Rose felt at home understanding it similar to the Android phones they'd have outside of the army.

"So, Ruby. Can I get your number?" Jon joked with a huge grin.

"Oh my, I thought you'd never ask." Rose said, playing along.

"No but seriously, we have numbers right? We should actually exchange them. Give me your phone, er. Scroll." Jaune said, moving over to Rose.

The two sat on the bed together, exchanging information and trying to figure out how the device worked, they were laughing and talking as the conversation went on.

"Y'know...it's been a while." Rose said. "Since we've y'know...been like this…"

"Sitting? We did walk a lot. Mostly me. Considering that I carried you."

Rose flicked Jon's forehead. "Ow!"

"No dingus, I mean been together. Just us. Y'know?" Rose continued. Jaune got what she was implying.

"Well, as your sorta CO, I can officially say that while we're here, let's...we should be okay? I suppose we're sorta off duty altogether while we're here."

"Awesome!" Rose said, grinning ear to ear.

"Ruby...what ar-" Jon was cut off by Rose tackling him onto the bed, hugging him.

"I'm kinda glad we got blown up, dude."

* * *

"Ozpin never actually gave us a map." Rose said, entering the campus dining hall with her captain. The two stood in a line with other students for food.

"Wow. This really does feel like college. Or high school. I guess more high school cause of lunch lines in a dining hall." Jon said aloud.

Every student gathered whatever food they wanted, like college, the food seemed to range from all kinds of foods. Pizza, burgers, chicken fingers, pasta, and so on. Each student got to the end of the line and placed their scroll on a scanner in order to check out. Ozpin mentioned to them that they would be given 'special' privileges in order to accommodate their membership as part of the 'staff'. After grabbing an obscene amount of food, the two checked out and moved into the dining hall.

The two tried to find an empty table before hearing familiar voices.

"Jonathan! Rose!" exclaimed Ruby, grabbing their attention and motioning for the two to sit with them. The duo walked over, sitting down with their doppelgangers and friends.

"Wow, that. Is a lot of food." stated Yang. Eyeing the amount the soldiers brought on their plates.

"Sorry. But eating MREs for basically months on end, anything would make our stomachs happier. Plus we haven't actually eaten in about a day and a half." Jon explained.

"MREs?" asked Weiss.

"Meals Ready to Eat. Military food rations that taste like cardboard." Explained Rose.

"But the food here isn't particularly the best food." Said Ruby.

"Taste's pretty good to us." Jon said with a smile, taking a huge bite out of a slice of pizza.

The 8 students watched in awe as the two soldiers devoured their food.

"So…" Jaune started. "What's your world like?"

"From what we've seen it seems pretty similar. Though we haven't been here for long, I guess the academic setting is pretty familiar." Explained Rose. "I guess the only real difference I've seen so far are killer bears and apparently wolves that wear masks and try to murder people? They were called Grimm, right?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, we have wolves and bears that do attack people, but that's largely out of pure self defense or them being animals. I didn't figure that they would be a huge conflict or something here."

Pyrrha spoke up. "Then what were you two fighting against?"

"People. Terrorists. Opposing forces. Et cetera." Jon started, giving Rose a chance to start eating more.

"You don't fight against Grimm?"

"No, like Rose said, we fight in different countries against other people. I don't know what the diplomatic and ideological ideas are in your world, but from where we're from, our histories are all built from the concept of war."

"That sounds horrible!"

"Yeah. It's a bit frustrating knowing that wars have started in differences in government ideologies, religion, economies, resources, political agendas and alliances, and so forth. But the world goes on I guess."

"So what was the conflict you two were dealing with?"

Rose started explaining again.

"So we were stationed in a country with a bunch of political instability. We had corrupt political leaders running the show in that country, and there were shadowy figures part of some underground terrorist group basically having a say in their agenda. After discovering where they were, we were mobilized to be stationed in a section of that country while we decided on what to do."

"How long have you two been in the military…?"

"We both were in a military in our college years. So I guess we've sorta had our foot in the door once we entered school at the age of 18? 16 for that feels like an eternity ago. Seven years for me, and Eight for Jonathan. I couldn't actually apply until I was 17."

"Are you...are you guys feeling alright?" Asked a concerned Ruby. Rose smiled back at her younger counterpart, and pat her on the head, getting a pout as a response from the young Ruby.

"We've been through way worse. We're doing fine mini-me!"

After a bombardment of questions, Jonathan and Rose were finished eating their food. Jon stood up.

"We'd love to answer all your questions guys. We really do. But we're going to try and get accommodated and used to our situation here. This was a great meal, and let's do this again."

With that, the two soldiers walked away from the dinner table, trays in hand waving good-bye to the students. As all the students were waving back towards the two, a concerned Ruby and Jaune sat back concerned at the fact that they had doppelgangers.

* * *

The soldiers had their rooms conveniently placed in the same hall as Ruby's team and Jaune's team. A few hours after being in their room figuring out scrolls, pants on hugging, and food, the two made a trip.

"Y'know, having only two clean shirts and military pants kinda sucks." Rose said aloud to Jon. The two were wearing their undershirts, Jon a tight white T-shirt and Rose wearing a white tank top. Both still wearing their combat pants and boots.

"I don't know, 8 years of wearing these and I don't really mind." Jon responded. The duo reached the door to Ruby's team. Rose knocked on the door as Jon knocked on the door for Jaune's team.

After a few moments, Weiss Schnee opened the door.

"Ah! Hello, um. Jonathan, and, Rose, what can I do for you two?" Weiss awkwardly greeted, trying to remain composed, still having trouble calling familiar faces different names.

"Hey Weiss, I was wondering whether or not you had any extra shampoo. Or if anyone in your room was willing to lend us some soap. Jon's over towards Jaune's room asking if he had any male products that he could borrow."

"Certainly! I will be right back." Weiss said and then disappeared into Team RWBY's room. Rose peeked inside.

"Hey Rose!" Greeted Yang as she laid in her top bunk bed. Blake laid in her bed her face buried in a book. She raised her hand to wave hello without looking up. Rose waved her hand back and stood slightly outside the team's room. After around a solid minute, Weiss came back with a few bottles of shampoo, soap, and conditioner.

"This bottle is shampoo, this one is body wash, and this one is conditioner." Explained Weiss. "This one is good for general skin-care, and this should help your skin from going dry."

As Weiss explained a few of the extra bottles she gave to Rose, Ruby poked her head out behind Weiss.

"Oh heyyyyyyyyy, Rose!" Said Ruby, trying her best to come off smooth, immediately tripping over her legs and then falling on the ground. "I- I, yeah, hi Rose." Ruby said, standing up, face getting red in embarrassment. Weiss just stared at her. Rose had a crooked confused smile was trying to hold back her laughter, understanding the younger girl for how awkward she is.

"You alright?" Rose asked.

"What exactly are you doing?" Weiss asked.

"I uh, I wanted to say hi!" Ruby squeaked.

"Uhhh, Hi." Rose said, awkwardly waving her free hand.

"I uh- Well,- Uhm, Talk, and the uhm-" sputtered out Ruby.

"Words, slow down, you can do it." Rose said, having a harder and harder time trying to not laugh.

"Were you like this when you were younger in your world too?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah. It's not like it's a bad thing. I was really shy when I was 15." Rose responded. "It's kinda funny seeing a younger me."

"..."

Weiss and Rose stared at Ruby as she was struggling to try and get words out.

"I wanted to talk to Rose!" she finally said.

"Alright." Said Rose.

"Alone, Weiss, if that's okay." Ruby said to Weiss.

"That's fine. I'll see you later Rose." Weiss said as she re-entered her room, leaving the two Rose's alone.

Jaune and Jon were talking as well, Rose motioned towards her room and said to Ruby,

"Hey, if you wanted to talk alone let's go into my room. It's the room at the end of the hall and on the left."

"I'll race you there!" Ruby said as she zipped off, leaving behind a trail of rose petals. Rose just looked in awe as Ruby literally turned into a blur and zoomed off, reaching Rose's room, holding the door handle and waving towards Rose.

"...Right." Rose said. She turned towards Jon as he was talking to Jaune. She quickly mentioned that Ruby wanted to talk alone, and that she was heading back to the room. Jon nodded and continued his conversation.

* * *

Rose reached her door and let her and Ruby into the room. Rose sat down on her bed as Ruby sat down on the desk's chair.

"So, what's up?" Rose said.

"I guess, I guess I wanted to ask a few questions…" Ruby said.

"You alright?"

"I'm thinking. I'm kinda nervous…"

Rose chuckled at that.

"No need to be nervous, little-me." said Rose as she smiled. Ruby seemed a bit more comfortable after that statement.

"Yeah, yeaaaah, no need to be uh...nervous I guess…" said Ruby. "It's not everyday you meet yourself from a parallel dimension whose much older than you and seems so much cooler than I am, and, and, and-"

"Relax, I'm not going to grill you or interrogate you or something." Rose said. "I'll be honest. It's weird being in an alternate dimension as well. You seem just like how I was back in high school, down to the clothes and stuff too."

"What was school like?"

"Boring. I was in alot of accelerated classes and I was able to finish within the top 8 students in my school. I eventually had a better time in university."

"Beacon University, right?"

"Yeah, though instead of a combat school as Oz said, it's a school that offers classes in specialized topics"

"What did you do?"

"Mechanical Engineering. I loved tinkering with machines, and I'm pretty sure that you could relate."

"Yeah! I can't wait to show you Crescent Rose!"

"Crescent...Rose?"

"Yeah, it's my sweetheart!" Ruby purred as she said this.

"My Crescent Rose is a Motorcycle I put together with Yang. You ride a motorcycle too?"

"No, it's uh- I'll just show you tomorrow!"

Ruby seemed really excited to talk about her version of Crescent Rose. Rose wasn't catching on but Ruby composed herself after a moment of looking ecstatic. She was trying not to give away details about her amazing piece of hardware.

"What's it like out on the battlefield…?"

"Scary to be honest."

"How so?"

"It's hard. Waking up every day knowing that it might be your last, and knowing that the most comfort that you have is waking up next to your rifle." Rose went on. She stopped looking at Ruby and was staring off into space as she explained. Having an almost despondent and deadpan look of recollecting the past. "Day after day was something different. Jonathan and I were in a pretty special squad, so we were always selected for some of the more dangerous missions. Putting your life on the line for things that are sometimes bigger than you, only to know that what you're doing is to go above the call of duty to fight for a world so it doesn't have as much pain and suffering in it is almost unbearable, knowing that fighting is happening in the present and now. But you do it anyway. You do it because it's the only thing you know."

"Are you...okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. It's just starting to really weigh in that it's been awhile since I've talked to someone about something like this."

"You and Jon...don't?"

"We do. But. We don't."

"How do you mean?"

"When we're on duty we don't discuss things. He and I are strictly on professional relationships and terms when that happens. He takes pretty good control of situations as a captain."

"And outside of the army?"

"He and I are in a…" Rose stopped. Patted Ruby on the head. Ruby pouted. "He's my best friend. My first one once I entered University. We talk about everything. Anyway, anything else you really wanted to talk about?"

"Uhm, how do you feel? You said you got blown up?"

Rose laughed really loudly. "Yeah I guess so. I feel really fine though. For once in a really long time, I think I'm able to relax. Honestly, I fought a bear, watched Jon beat up a bunch of guys who were bullies, woke up in a really pretty forest, and made some pretty cool friends. I'd say that was a pretty cool day. Considering that I got blown up, I think I feel pretty good."

Ruby still had a concerned look on her face. "You were blown up though...And now you're in a completely different world."

"Everything's here and now in the present. I think that everything's pretty fine. Don't worry Ruby. I'm fine. I really am."

"Oh...alright. Do you...Are you happy? In your line of work?"

"To be frank? I suppose so." Said Rose, she scratched the back of her head. "I've. I've lived this life for a long time. And while my original plans were to be an engineer, I figured out that I enjoy fighting."

"...Oh."

"Yeah. I...I honestly might be messed up in the head. I think Jon and I both are. But I don't think either of us can really imagine each other doing anything else. Jon is an amazing leader, and he's one of the greatest soldiers I've ever seen. Ever since Py-"

Rose stopped herself for a moment. She continued on again. "Ever since something really devastated Jon when we were just joining the military. He...he's worked himself to the bone to become a better and better soldier for the sake of the others around him. He takes on the burden of wanting to protect everyone. And as much trouble he has, mentally because of it all…He's still so strong…"

Ruby had a somber look on her face. She spoke quietly. "So...you've killed…?"

"...Yeah."

Ruby looked down. "Which means that I might be fated to...kill someone too…"

"...I'm sorry."

"But. I can just. I can fight the Grimm! I can. I just...I hope I can fight for the sake of...of mankind…"

"I hope that's really the case in your world Ruby…" Said Rose. She had a voice of empathy. She realized that coming from a parallel world, Ruby would have to go through some similar experiences. And as a result Rose felt a sadness that reminded her of an innocence she once had.

"I…" Ruby spoke up. Her voice quiet and cracking up, tears slowly welling up in her eyes. "I want to protect people…I want to protect humanity…"

"And you will. Just...when the time comes…" Rose started. "...I'm sorry." She didn't know what to say. Rose got off the bed and approached Ruby, and hugged her tightly. "You'll be okay...alright? You'll become super awesome in the future. And for the sake of humanity, you're going to be an amazing huntress. I'm pretty strong Ruby. You're going to grow up to be a strong girl."

"I...I don't want to hurt anyone." Ruby said, tearing up.

"No one ever does Ruby. No one ever does." Rose said softly. "And I hope that in your world it never comes to that."

* * *

"So you're part of Team JNPR, huh?" Said Jon. He leaned against the wall with Jaune on the other side of the hall, doing the same. "Funny enough, that's actually what I called my group of friends from my world. But I guess that's not a surprise."

"It's actually kinda crazy knowing that you're here though." said Jaune. "Like. You looked so awesome while fighting, does that mean I'm going to become a really amazing fighting in the future?"

"Wait, wait. Let me guess." Jon said. "You ended up sorta faking some papers to get into a military branch that you totally do NOT qualify for, and ended up getting really lucky because you met Pyhrra and she's been teaching you. Even though in reality you're kinda not very good at fighting."

Jaune simply nodded. "Don't. Don't say it out loud. Please"

"No I get you, dude." Jon said. "I was the same way."

"What?"

"When I first joined the army, I basically was super under-qualified. My family was pretty military, and most of us joined to contribute to whatever cause was needed. I was never really good at sports and was bullied a lot. Surprisingly enough they let me in because I was built well enough." Jon sighed. "Turns out that I had a really shitty time doing basic. Then I met Pyhrra. She basically became my mentor."

"She taught you how to fight?"

"Basically. And here I am I guess" Jon laughed.

"Oh…" Jaune said. He looked towards his room and smirked. "Did you get good with any swords?"

"Swords? Nah. I am pretty good with a knife though. Swords aren't as practical when everyone has a gun."

"That's what everyone says." Jaune says. "Or at least is what they're probably thinking."

"Wait. Is, Do you use a Sword and a Shield? Like. Legend of Zelda Sword and Shield?"

"Wait what?"

"I mean, like a knight?"

"Yeah."

"That's pretty baller. Crocea Mors?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Family Heirloom. My world kinda doesn't really like swords and shields. Largely because guns are fucking terrifying." Jon said. "Grandpa showed it to me, but other than that I ended up being trained with a knife and a gun more than anything."

Jaune was a bit taken back from Jon's choice of language. "Ah…"

"And a ton of explosives!" Jon said with a grin. Jaune bit his lip. "Don't worry about it, Jaune. I'm joking."

Jaune sighed. "Oh man, I thought you were some sort of psychopath."

Jon laughed. He stayed silent.

"Did you...end up getting together with your world's Weiss?" asked Jaune. Jon started laughing loudly.

"You'd be surprised."

"Wait. What?"

"Head over heels, huh? Don't worry about it bud. You'll find someone better. I swear on it." Jon said with a grin. He was having a great time teasing his younger self about his future.

Jaune's head dipped. "Oh…"

"Trust me, man. You're fine."

"Anyway, thanks for the body wash and the shampoo man, it's so great I finally have something to not smell like ass with." Jon said. "You're going to bed, right?"

"...Yeah."

"Night man."

"Night." Jaune said, turning the handle on his door and quietly going in. Jonathan began walking towards his room with Rose. As he opened the door and turned the handle he saw Ruby with an Assault Rifle in her arms pointed at the door, finger on the trigger.

"Hey! Watch where you're pointing that!" Jon said. Ruby looked up confused as Jon stayed out in the hallway. "Trigger discipline, trigger discipline!"

"Wait what's wrong?" Ruby asked innocently. Rose came up and lowered the weapon so that Ruby was pointing it towards the ground. Rose took Ruby's hand that was on the trigger and moved it so that it was holding the stock.

"What he means is. He has no way of knowing if it's loaded or not. I don't want to shoot my captain the first night we've made it onto an awesome bed with a really awesome room for ourselves." Rose explained.

"Ohhhh…..Sorry…" Ruby said, slightly disappointed with herself.

"It's fine Rubes. Just, we're a bit cautious with firearms."

"But it's so cool! Rose explained how it works and it's similar to the technology we have here but it's really interesting to see the differences in the weapons you guys have! Like this rifle has short-stroke gas system, so the energy of the shot is imparted in a push and the motion of the gas piston allows the operating cycle to continue through kinetic energy! Making it controllable!" Ruby fangirled.

Rose and Jaune looked at her. Jaune looked at Rose. "She is exactly the way you were back when I first met you. Except this one likes guns."

"Hey, tech is cool!" Rose snapped back.

"And weapons are so awesome! They're like an extension of ourselves!" Ruby said with enthusiasm.

"...Right." Jon said. "Anyway, Ruby. I think it's time for you to go to bed. I know you guys have class in the morning. Give me the rifle." Ruby pouted and Jon resisted her looks. He took the rifle by the stock and then raised the barrel with one hand. He pulled back the bolt to check if it was completely empty. He let the weight drop and held the rifle from the stock with a single hand.

"Aw…" Ruby said. She slowly walked out of the room and waved to the two soldiers. "I'll talk to you later Rose!"

"See ya later Rubes!" Rose said.

"How did talking go?" Jon asked.

"It was...fun. She's young. And innocent. She's sweet. She really is me from high school." Rose started going into the bathroom to begin showering, taking off the clothes that she had as Jon placed the rifle back on the desk. "She...put together that as military, we're killers. She got a bit worried about being fated to becoming a killer as well."

"No one ever fights for peace to hurt anyone." Jon said somberly. "No one ever does."

Jon entered the bathroom as well, seeing his sergeant waiting for him. "So. Room for one more?" He asked, smiling.

* * *

 _A figure in a white hood and cape stood faced away._

" _Mom…?"_

" _...so sorry. I'm so sorry…" The figure in white said. She was sobbing as she said this. "I...I'm to blame. This world of Remnant is fated to be destroyed. And in the end...Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc are fated to fail when the time comes…"_

 _The hooded woman slowly took off her hood, she slowly turned around. She had dark red hair and silver eyes with pale skin. She looked like an exact copy of Ruby Rose, but with a more mature feel to her. Her hair was longer and she had a gentle smile reminiscent of a mother._

" _I called you here so you can prepare Jaune and Ruby and their friends for the endgame." She said in a gentle tone. "And I figured you two were the ones most prepared to teach them. I love you Ruby. No matter where you are from...I love you so much…"_

 _The red haired woman turned around and started walking away._

" _Please...forgive me. But this was the only way to give our world a chance, to take you from yours. It's selfish, but please. I beg of you. I have taken you from yours to help mine. And I believe you two can train your younger selves enough to prepare for the end."_

 _As the woman walked away into the horizon she said to herself. "I love you Ruby...And I'm sorry. Would I change if I could?"_

 _She stopped. "I suppose it doesn't matter now, does it?"_

Jon and Rose both woke up at the same time and turned heads towards each other.

"What."


	3. Chapter 3

"So you actually have classes that are just dedicated to sparring and fighting?" Asked Rose as the soldiers and the headmaster of the school sat down.

"Yes. Its for the students prove their quick and strategic thinking, and technique. Plus it provides a friendly competition for each student to fight for the number one spot, pushing them to fight better and better." Ozpin said, explaining the school to the two soldiers. It was a new day, and Ozpin was taking his personal time to show Jon and Rose how the academy works. "The Grimm are mindless, but learning how to fight by extensively thinking gives you an edge fighting Grimm."

Currently, the trio sat down in one of the classes supervised by Professor Glynda Goodwitch. The classroom was set up similar to that of an arena, with seats surrounding a half circular battlefield as the entire class watched as two huntsmen duke it out.

"Each student has their aura hooked up to the screen above. This will display their aura levels and once it hits the red, we can determine a winner and proceed to stop the battle." Ozpin continued. "Today's match will be between some of our best. Pyrrha Nikos and Blake Belladonna."

Pyrrha Nikos was wearing a top strapless piece of armor, coming down as a V-neck and exposing her bust. It held her figure together it seemed that the actual piece of armor was very sturdy. It was bronze. She wore a black miniskirt, covered in a bright red piece of cloth that matched the color of her hair. The cloth went on and wrapped around her, going down to her ankles. Jon and Rose thought that the fashion in this world was absurd if that was what students normally would wear. But Jon was thinking about how inefficient the armor was. It was pretty. But pretty only got you so far. The actual armor had a critical flaw that left so much of the upper torso exposed. Jon didn't worry though. If Pyrrha here was anything like the Pyrrha was in his world, she had a way of balancing beauty and grace when it came to fighting. Though that did beg the question, considering it was her downfall as well.

Jon grimaced at the thought that the Pyrrha of this world was fated for something just as tragic.

On the other side of the arena stepped in Blake Belladonna. She wore a black button up vest with coattails, with a white shirt underneath it. Jon didn't understand this trend of re-occurring exposed midriff, especially in battle. She wore white shorts, with zippers on the front of them, leading into thigh high stockings Wait, why zippers? Her bow was the only constant from her look from the earlier day to today.

"Hold on, Aura?" asked Jonathan, trying to judge the gear each combatant was wearing.

"Do you not have Aura from where you are from?"

"No. I've got no idea what that means."

"Aura is the manifestation of one's soul. It is an energy source that can be used alongside huntsmen to aid them in the heat of battle. There are many different functions that a hunters aura will have while fighting. They're mainly used as a means of protection, using a hunter's own soul to protect against fatal wounds and quickly healing small wounds."

"So it's like a forcefield? Yeah, we...we don't have that."

"Ah."

Blake Belladonna and Pyrrha Nikos stood in their respective starting positions. Above them was a flat television screen displaying what Rose could only describe as health bars. Ozpin assured that it was supposed to measure a hunter's aura, and once dropped into the red the match would stop.

"Hunters. Ready yourselves." Professor Goodwitch.

Blake Belladonna unsheathed a katana, holding the sheath in her other hand as if it were a cleaver. She crouched down, blade forward ready to strike.. On the other end of the arena was Pyrrha, holding a bright red spear in hand, her grip choking the shaft of the weapon, and the other hand holding a shield. She crouched down with her shield in front, eyes peering over the top of the shield.

"BEGIN!"

Blake swung her katana hand forward and pointed the weapon upward. The hilt and handle of the weapon was a Glock-19, with a mount on top of the frame that connected to a katana. Firing away rounds in order to suppress Pyrrha, she moved forward in order into a closer range. Pyrrha held her ground using her shield to protect herself. Her spear mecha-shifted into a rifle, with Pyrrha mounting the rifle over the side of the shield. She returned fire, stopping Blake from laying down suppressing fire.

"Is that...an M1 Garand?" asked Rose.

Jon shrugged. "I'm more surprised the spear just went all transformers into a gun."

After several shots an empty clip launched out of Pyrrha's rifle, with no rounds, she turned her rifle back into a spear, and threw it as a javelin towards Blake. Blade sidestepped the spear, turning her body just so slightly. Once dodging she was met with an axe kick that Blake was barely able to stop. Crossing her arms to block the attack, the weight of Pyrrha's kick broke through Blake's guard. Pyrrha landed, only to deliver a jumping back kick, punishing and sending Blake flying back. Blake did a backflip and recovered in midair, she threw her katana/glock forward, the blade folding backwards to make a bladed hook of sorts, with the handle being attached to a ribbon.

"And, is that a- that's a Kusarigama!" Said Rose. She was getting more and more excited seeing the weapons that the students had. Being easily excitable by technology and mechanics, weapons that were feats of incredible engineering. Jon simply chucked at how excited she was.

The kusarigama hooked onto the shield, Blake pulling herself, changing her trajectory, as Pyrrha's shield was ripped from her hands. Blake called the blade back, ready to launch her assault. Blake swung her blade, following it up by a kick and another attack with the cleaver. Pyrrha blocked all three attacks, backflipped to avoid another attack and let out her hand towards her dropped spear. The spear began glowing with a black outline, lifting itself up and launching it towards Pyrrha. Pyrrha grasped the spear and began to counter Blake's offensive.

"Is she a jedi? Asked Jon. Ozpin just raised his eyebrow when he turned his head.

Blake stepped back and then threw her kusarigama hooking onto Pyrrha's leg, yanking it back so that Pyrrha fell on her back. Retrieving the hook and gripping it once again, Blake stabbed towards the ground with Pyrrha moving her head to the right.

Another stab. Head to the left. Another stab, head to the right. Another stab, head to the left. Blake slashed her cleaver upwards and fired off a shockwave, with Pyrrha rolling, and circling Blake. Blake stabbed once again. Pyrrha sat up quickly pulling Blake's wrist and pulling Blake in, kicking hard and pushing Blake back again.

Blake held her stomach in pain for a moment and got into a stance again. She unloaded the magazine and then loaded in another one. From what the soldiers could see the magazine was loaded with different colored rounds. Pyrrha's spear mecha-shifted into a sword and she swung downward towards Blake, only for Blake to turn into an ice statue, and her normal form appearing right behind it. The blade was caught in the statue of ice, and Blake attacked with her cleaver. Only for Pyrrha to let go of the sword, spinning around and then grabbing Blake's arm, pulling her forward and then kicking her away. Blake spun around as Pyrrha threw her shield forward, with Blake firing off another shot as the shield connected. This time performing the same after image ability used in order to dodge the attack.

"Uhh…." Jon said, dumbfounded by the overall feats that just took place.

"What...just happened?" asked Rose. "As in the ability she just used."

The two soldiers were slowly becoming more and more surprised at the abilities that these two huntresses-in-training had. Mecha-shifting weapons, high grade martial art and hand to hand combat ability, superpowers?

"Blake just used her Semblance." Ozpin said. "It's an ability that is unique to her, and only her. It creates after images, allowing for her to quickly flee from a certain attack or situation in the event that it might be needed."

"Oh...And the...magic?" Jon asked.

"Her weapon is using special kinds of Dust rounds, each performing different and unique actions that compliment her semblance and fighting style." Rose and Jon only stared as the Professor sipped his coffee. "And dust is a substance that can be described as the purest form of energy, and can be used for many different applications. This involves transportation, communications, other forms of technology, and ballistics."

Jon and Rose shrugged at each other once again, and went back to watching the match. There was a lot to learn about this world.

Pyrrha had her sword back in her hand, ready to fight. She looked wary of her opponent, and rather than having a frontal assault, decided to use her rifle abilities in order to suppress and attack Blake. Pyrrha moved backwards, loading a clip into her weapon and then began firing again. Blake began dodging left and right, getting closer and closer to Pyrrha. A bullet eventually hit Blake, only for it to be another afterimage, with Blake reappearing on Pyrrha's flank. Pyrrha let out her hand, outlining Blake's weapon and then driving Blake's weight forward and Pyrrha kneeing her in the stomach, lifting her leg again for another axe kick, and delivering a blow Blake's back.

"ENOUGH!" Glynda shouted, only to speak in a more normal tone once the two girls had gotten back up. "Girls, that was very good. Blake you held up a terrific offense and defense. Though, you weren't able to affect Pyrrha, you did last amongst the longest of the students in the class."

Blake was panting and Pyrrha stood strong. Smiling, Blake came over and the two shook hands. "I guess I still can't affect the 'invincible girl'. But thanks for that Pyrrha."

"You fought very well! Thank you for such an amazing time Blake!"

The two soldiers sat in their seats. Their jaws dropped, seeing the magnitude of the abilities of the two.

"Professor, what was the black outline thing about?" asked Rose.

"That was Pyrrha's semblance. Her semblance is polarity, meaning that she is able to control magnets."

"Ah." Rose sat back. Semblances. Unique abilities specific to people? Blake had her afterimage ability, and Pyrrha had polarity? Strange. Rose snickered at the idea of Pyrrha only being able to control poles.

"I...I don't think we can teach students like this." Jon said.

"Excuse me?"

"What I mean is, no offense, it looks like your students know what they're doing. Their hand to hand is absolutely superb, their weaponry is almost always perfect for each situation, and I'm pretty sure that we can't compare considering that we both lack uh, Aura. If all your students are like this, I'm pretty sure you have no place for me or Rose." Jon said.

"Not to mention that we had trouble fighting the monsters in the forest. Jon didn't actually...wrestle the bear. We had guns. And that might have a bit of a say in how we are as soldiers. We got lucky." Rose continued.

"The wolves I mentioned? Yeah I got lucky. I was carrying Rose and no matter how experienced I am. I really did just get lucky. I primed a grenade and then took cover. That's how I dropped most of them. I got a cut on my arm from the shrapnel of the grenade. We both only have so much ammunition. And those raptor things? They went down easy with a rifle, but that doesn't change that I could have easily gotten overwhelmed by them. My kevlar can stop 7.62 cartridges. Not being torn to shreds by bloodthirsty monsters." said Jon.

Ozpin took another sip of his coffee. The next match in the arena was announced, this time between a Cardin Winchester and a Jaune Arc. "I believe that I do not want to hire you based on your ability to fight alone, Mr Arc. I believe that you can set a prime example of how to lead your unit to victory."

Glynda shouted for the two to begin, and the two warriors began...fighting. Ozpin continued.

"From what I know so far. And from what I've perceived, you come from a line of work where you have seen an immense amount of pain and loss. However, you have also come from a line of work where you have learned that immense amount and have seen the things that you have survived. You are a leader from another universe who is a rising leader in mine. From what I can understand right now, my instincts and judgments are correct, and I can trust you in being able to teach how to lead, think, and how to become a better model as a huntsman. After all, you have proven to me in your world that you are an amazing captain."

The two soldiers stayed silent.

Jon quietly watched the two hunters below fight. Cardin was dominating Jaune, almost as if Jaune had no technique whatsoever to actually carry him through a fight. Jaune stayed defensive and regardless of what attack that Cardin threw at him, it always ended with Jaune taking cover behind his shield. Cardin left himself open, pushing weight onto his attacks, shifting his balance and creating openings. With the way that Cardin threw himself as he attacked, Jon seemed to realize that Cardin took the beatdown from Jon a bit personally, actually putting more and more force behind each attack, wanting to get back at Jon and taking out his aggression on Jaune.

Cardin launched Jaune into the ground. There was a struggle of defense, and as well as Jaune was able to defend against certain attacks, he only succumbed to the inevitable overwhelming strength of Cardin Winchester. Cardin drove his fist into Jaune.

Jon winced.

"...Maybe I should teach him how to fight."

"ENOUGH!" shouted Glynda. "Mr. Arc, you have been barely improving over the past few weeks. Please try to be careful, and try to make sure that you can recover from fighting a Hunter of Mr Winchester's size."

The trio up above stayed quiet.

"Professor." Jon said. "...I'll take your job. We'll see how it fares. But it doesn't change that I feel that Rose and I are completely underprepared for this job."

Ozpin smiled towards the two soldiers, and stood up. "Then I will make the preparations. I will send you information regarding your classes later tonight."

Ozpin began walking away.

"Did you take the job because you were pissed at how poorly younger you fought?" Rose asked.

"No. To be honest, if he says that I would make an impact on the huntsmen of the future. Then I might as well try. We never really doubted his judgement back in our world. Even if he's a little too cryptic." Jon responded. "Besides. Dead mom problems."

Rose raised an eyebrow, waiting for the follow up to that sentence.

"Okay, MAYBE it has to do with me teaching Jaune how to fight." Jon admitted.

Rose nodded and then sat back with a grin.

The bell for the end of the class rang.

* * *

After begging to see the types of weapons that Rose and Jon, Ruby finally convinced Rose to come to the training halls.. Jon went to see what team JNPR was doing as they were consoling their leader after class.

"This. Is Crescent Rose!" Ruby said. She held out a metallic red block. Rose raised an eyebrow.

The two Roses were standing in an empty training hall of the school. After picking up Crescent Rose from the armory and Rose's arsenal from the dorm room, Ruby suggested that the safest place to show the weapons around would be in a training hall. The room was completely white, with holographic screens hovering around the doorway and the center of the room.

"Uhm…"

Ruby looked at Rose for a moment, only to realize why Rose had a blank expression. "O-oh!" Ruby held a handle on top of the block. As she did, it began to mechashift. The block extended outwards, creating a handle, showing a large magazine attached to the handle, with the end of Crescent Rose extending out. The final form of the block was a bright red scythe, the handle of the weapon had a trigger, with a gripping fit exactly as if it were a gun. Rose simply just figured that the scythe was also a gun considering Blake and Pyrrha. As Ruby held it, she posed with the weapon, looking like a child between little red riding hood and the grim reaper..

"Woah." Was the only word that Rose could get out. She looked at the weapon and everything about was masterfully designed. Looking at the weapon from top to bottom it was clear that there was an incredible amount of work. She approached her younger self and then started to observe the weapon closely. "This is an insanely cool weapon…did you build it?"

"Yup! Uncle Qrow helped me build it!"

"Of course. Uncle Qrow."

Rose felt the blade of the weapon, it was smooth and clean, the blade incredibly sharp. Feeling around, the noticed the magazine in the handle of the weapon.

"Can I check the magazine? I want to see what kind of cartridge your...scythe uses." Rose asked. Ruby pulled back the bolt and then released the magazine, handing it over to Rose. Taking a bullet out of the magazine, Rose observed the diameter and the length of the bullet. Reminiscent of a .50 BMG cartridge of Rose's world, Rose started laughing. Ruby started blushing because she couldn't tell if she was the one being laughed at or not.

"W-what?" Ruby asked.

"This cartridge seems to be the .50 BMG counterpart from my world. It's basically an anti-material cartridge. Which means that it's huge. And by that I mean it's meant to kill a tank or a giant robot." Rose explained. "But as the gun fires, the recoil of the weapon is massive. And you are...how tall…?"

"5'2"" Ruby said. She pouted at stating her height. "I drink milk!"

"I did too, little-me. Anyway. Yeah, it's just hilarious because you're 5'2" and you're firing off rounds meant to kill a tank." Rose finished.

"Is it really that funny…? I incorporated it into the fighting style I developed after learning how to use a scythe." Ruby said. She didn't find much humor in what Rose was saying.

"Maybe just to me little-me. A little girl basically firing what's basically a portable cannon is kind of funny. You should basically be flying around with that kind of firepower." Rose said. She patted Ruby's head. "Do you want to show me how you use Crescent Rose?"

Ruby perked up as she heard Rose ask that question. Ruby had a shit-eating grin, from one ear to the other. As Ruby took the magazine back from Rose and loaded it into Crescent Rose, she moved towards the holographic screen in the center of the room. She began pressing a few commands. She pointed towards an observer room with a large clear window.

"Rose, can you move to the safe room? I don't want to accidentally hurt you while I demonstrate." Rose nodded and headed into the observer room.

As Ruby hit 'begin' on the panel, the room dimmed slightly for a moment, the panel disappeared and an automated voice began speaking. Ruby crouched into a ready position and got ready to strike.

"Training: 20 Targets. Beginning in 10…

...9

...8

...7

...6

...5

...4

...3

...2

...1

Begin."

Ruby bolted forward.

The room displayed several light blue targets that were slightly transparent however opaque enough for people to understand that it was made solid. The training room turned into an augmented reality of sorts, setting up targets that scattered throughout the room.

Ruby slashed through the first target, using her momentum of the swing to jump up into the air and come down for an aerial strike on the second target, still spinning as the target was hit. After landing on the ground, she had spun enough for her weapon to be facing the opposite direction she came from. She readied her scythe and began firing multiple rounds over and over around into four or five targets. With seven down, she bolted for the next one, turning into a haze of roses, and moving at an almost unobservable speed. She slashed through four more at this speed, only to hit the wall of the room. She jumped off of the wall and fired her weapon downward, the weapon giving enough recoil that funny enough, gave her enough momentum to carry her upward.

"Holy shit." Rose said in awe. "She can basically rocketjump…."

Ruby stayed in the air after every shot, changing her direction so slightly after each shot only to hit more and more target. After another 6 targets were destroyed, Ruby quickly swung her scythe around in midair, only to fire again. This time the actual shot projected her downward into the ground at an angle, with Ruby spinning around and spearing the final target, with Ruby landing and striking a pose.

The panels of the room began to appear again and the automated voice started speaking again.

"Training room, Returning to normal. Time of 20 targets: 33 Seconds."

Rose moved out of the observer room and went up to Ruby.

"Holy shit that was awesome! Oh my god, you were like, wa-powwww, and sha-shiiiiiiiing." Rose said, doing hand motions that would be reminiscent of a martial artist. Ruby blushed a bit at her comments.

"Oh stoppp, It wasn't anything. And yeahhhhhh." Were the only words that could slip out of Ruby's mouth.

"We...we don't fight like that where we come from." Rose said. "A lot of the time we're stationery. And for me. I'm a sniper. There have been moments where I wouldn't move for days or weeks at a time."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah. Like, the whole changing trajectory while firing a weapon? Thats a thing that would happen in a video game or something. But you made it look so goddamn cool!" Rose said. She was absolutely amazed at the fact that a fighting style incorporated everything about Ruby. From her size, to the actual momentum and power of each swing, and the agility that she had. "Like I said. I'm a sniper. I sit in the back and wait. Doing the insane stuff you hunters do is one of the coolest things I've ever. EVER. seen."

"That's...O-oh. Thanks!" Ruby blushed. She put away Crescent Rose, it mecha-shifted into the red box quickly and Ruby latched it onto her lower back, clipping onto...SOMETHING on her uniform. She jumped up and down in front of Rose. "Can I see you work with your weapons? Can I Can I Can I Can I?"

Rose laughed at the young girl. "I...I guess so. Here, let me get set up."

Rose was wearing the same white tank top that she was wearing the previous day. In the training room, she was wearing her supply vest. Unslinging her M416, she took two magazines from the vest and loaded the rifle and the underbarrel shotgun. Pulling back on the bolt, she motioned Ruby to move to the observer's room. Rose went to the central of the room and started looking at the screens. Instructions were simple enough. She pressed 'Begin' on the panel and then readied her weapon. The room darkened and she undid the safety on her rifle.

"Training: 20 Targets. Beginning in 10…

...9

...8

...7

...6

...5

...4

...3

...2

...1

Begin."

The room lit back up and the targets started appearing again. Rose started firing away at the first few targets. She controlled the recoil of the rifle and fired in small bursts. What amazed Ruby as Rose fired was the actual rate at which Rose was destroying targets, all while being stationary. Rose destroyed over half the targets in less than 15 seconds, rapidly pivoting and and choosing which targets to hit. One of the skills that Ruby noticed as well was the fact that Rose also was hitting the walls of the room intentionally. Upon closer inspection, Rose was calculating the ricochet of the bullets, and when the bullets would stop. Rose kept bullets whizzing by and hitting targets as Rose fired at other targets she could pick off.

After firing enough rounds, Rose shifted her left hand from the frontside of the magazine to the trigger of the M26 MASS. There were only 6 targets left, and Rose already calculated when and where she was firing. The spread of the buckshot made for easy pickings of the last six. They were meticulously left for Rose to fire away over and over again to clean them up. After the third shot of the M26, the automated announcer ended the training.

"Training room, Returning to normal. Time of 20 targets: 29 Seconds."

Ruby walked out of the observer's room, amazed at what had happened. Shell casings rolled on the floor and Rose released the magazines to her weapons and emptied the shotguns chambers.

As Rose turned towards Ruby she was met with amazed eyes and a squealing Ruby.

"That...THAT WAS SO COOL! YOU WERE SO FAST AND PRECISE! THAT WAS AMAZING. YOU HAD SUCH AN IMPRESSIVE TIME! AND THE SHOTGUN?! YOUR GUN IS SO VERSATILE! BUT THE COOLEST PART WAS THE RICOCHET! WERE YOU JUST CALCULATING IT ALL AS YOU FIRED?"

"I mean. It's pretty hard to outrun a bullet." Rose said bluntly. "And yes. Yes I was."

"The fact that you were able to hit targets so quickly and so accurately too…is that your semblance? Like. Like. Some sort of aiming...bot?"

"My what? Oh. Uh. No. I don't have a semblance. At least I don't think so."

"Wait, you don't have a semblance? Every hunter has a semblance...it's a manifestation of one's aura."

Rose bit her lip. "Nope. Never had one. And I don't really think anyone from my world has auras."

"You mean no one's unlocked it yet? How did you survive?"

"As in I don't think it exists in my world."

"Then...then can we try unlocking yours?"

"Uh. Sure."

Ruby walked up to Rose, and placed a hand on her shoulder and the other on Rose's vest. "I think I can remember this…Close your eyes Rose."

 _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death._ _I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee._

Rose closed her eyes. Several moments passed as Ruby's body began to glow with a red outline. After a while Ruby dropped her hands from Rose. Nothing happened. Ruby had a look of confusion. Ruby stopped glowing.

"I don't get it! I can feel your soul, but I can't unlock your aura. It's almost as if it doesn't exist..." Ruby said sadly. "I can't, I can't even transfer mine into yours…"

"It's fine, Ruby" Rose said smiling. "I think the differences between your world and mine are a bit extreme when it comes to stuff like that. I can survive just fine on my own."

"But...but, how can you survive without an Aura? I don't know how dangerous your world is, but it's super important that you have an aura when fighting Grimm!"

Rose laughed. "Overwhelming odds and being possibly outgunned? I'll manage." Ruby pouted at her older self for being reckless. "Is there a place for us to sit? I'll tell you why then."

* * *

The two carried their weapons out of the training rooms and back into the armory, they reached a couple of benches and vending machines. Rose sat down as Ruby picked up two cans of soda. Ruby handed over a can.

"Thanks." Rose said.

The two opened their respective cans and tapped them together, taking sips in identical fashions.

"Wow. That, that is strong. You said this was soda?" Rose asked, taken aback from how explosive the taste was.

"Yup!" Ruby said, happily chugging away.

"Jesus, you can probably make an actual explosive or something if you chucked this." Rose said, examining the can. It reminded Rose of Monster on steroids. Or Red Bull on steroids. "Still good though."

Rose put down her drink on the bench and started speaking again.

"So. I've fought an...Ursa I think it was? And a few of those Creeps as well I think. And for the most part they seem to be easy to put down. Largely because bullets are well. Bullets. I think the only issues Jon and I would have while fighting the Grimm would be a lack of ammunition.

Which reminds me, I said your scythe takes in cartridges similar to a .50 BMG, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then…" Rose took several of the various cartridges she would use and then showed them to Ruby. "Do you guys have any rounds exactly like this?"

Rose showed Ruby a 5.56x45mm round. Ruby's eyes lit up and her obsession with weapons took over. Examining the different bullets that Rose had in her hands and recognizing which cartridges they were, Ruby dashed off, disappearing as a cloud of petals with her semblance. Rose just sat there, still holding the rounds in her hands.

"How the hell does she do that? Gotta be her semblance or whatever…" Rose said to herself.

Ruby came back after a minute, with a different box of ammunition for each cartridge. Rose began examining a few of them and smiled, giving Ruby a thumbs up..

"Awesome. I'll have to test these out later to make sure my rifle can cycle through them. I can hold onto these, right?"

"Yeah. The school ends up having so much of certain Dust rounds that students are allowed to take freely on missions. Considering that Ozpin is letting you teach you should be fine!"

"Thanks then! Though, this sorta feels like a cop-out."

"Wait what?"

"Like, that your world also has cartridges that resemble my world's bullets. Like the actual external look of these seem to fit the same exact measurements as mine. It just seems too convenient."

"Is that a bad thing? It should be good. You can use your weapons."

"I'd say it's more lucky. Or lazy. Depends on how you interpret it?"

"Lazy?"

"Don't worry about it." Rose started putting away the rounds and then put the boxes of ammo to the side. "Anyway, I was going to tell you a bit about Jon and I then."

"Oh! This should be interesting."

"Do they also call you a reaper? With the scythe and all?"

"Yeah, that's one of my nicknames. Its always 'red reaper' or 'little red'."

"I can relate to that. The 'red reaper' one at least. 'Little Red' for was when I entered high school and then college for a few years. People in my world have started calling me the 'red reaper' as I got older."

"But...you don't really dress like reaper thing comes from the scythe and the hood."

'My battledress. Mine is special because I have a hood on mine, and it's got a reddish digital camo pattern on it."

"Does that mean anything?"

"It's just a preference of mine to be honest. It's custom made. I'm a sniper. Anyway, I was going to tell you about Jon and I. He and I are part of a two man squad called Lancaster. Or at least, we're usually called the Lancaster squad until everyone else quits because as effective and amazing of a leader Jon is, he comes up with some of the most insane ways of solving things. So it's eventually led to us two being the 'Lancaster Squad"

"Wait. Insane?"

"...Yeah. We once had to take out the personnel of a facility by sneaking around. He ended up just setting plastic explosives to the entire underlying foundation of the building and blew it up. And when we asked him he just responded with: 'Hey, no one can say we were caught because there are no witnesses.'"

"Um…"

"Or another time involved boarding a plane by flying over it with another plane and dropping a truck onto it. While we were still in it."

"Wait what."

"We finished the Op by literally destroying everything on the plane with Plastic explosives."

"Errrr…?"

"We also fought a giant robot. He's led a squad of men into battle against a few giant robots."

"Did you guys destroy them using plastic explosives?"

"No."

"Oh! Then how did-"

"Plastic Explosives on a hanger door that fell onto the mech while it was firing a really big rocket. The rocket exploded in its face and then Jon and men basically walked away as if they had just blown something up in a movie. 'Cool guys don't look at explosions' I guess."

Ruby had a look of worry. Knowing that her friend Jaune was fated to become a great leader was an awesome thought, but she was worried that Jaune would slowly start turning into a pyromaniacal soldier, wanting to blow everything up.

"Does he solve everything with explosives?" Ruby asked.

"No. He's an actual serious soldier. But when you want someone who can come up with a creative enough solution to something, you can count on Jon to be incredibly resourceful with what he's got."

Ruby looked at her. Rose gave a sheepish smile.

"Anyway." Rose continued, "Jon and I are partners. We're usually put up for suicide missions with overwhelming odds and little chance of survival."

"Suicide missions…?" Ruby had a look of worry. Rose just smiled.

"I'm still here." Rose took a sip of her soda, still jumping from the strength of the drink. She felt jittery from the caffeine content. "Besides. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Placing her drink down again she continued. "Jon is known as the 'Soldier of Fortune'. I've been with him since the very beginning and he's one of the most exceptional fighters I've ever met. You know how I brought up that he's built himself up since a tragedy devastated him?"

"Yeah. What was the tragedy?"

"Thats. That's a story for another day." Rose said, holding the can of soda, and her index finger pointing at Ruby. She took another sip before speaking again. "Anyway, she used to basically hold that title of 'Fortune'. Well. It was a different word but you get the idea. Jon is far from invincible, but what makes him incredibly exceptional is that for as long as I've known him. He has some of the greatest luck that any human has had. He's been stabbed, shot, brutally tortured, shocked, shot, stabbed, shot again, waterboarded, et cetera, et cetera."

"Wait what?!"

"Yeah. And he always finishes his operations with elegance and grace." Rose said with a smile. "Or tons of explosives." Ruby had her look of worry once again. Rose giggled before continuing.

"But he's kinda become a legend over the course of the past few years. It's always kinda annoying whenever other female soldiers always approach him and are all like: 'Oh, Captain Jaune, you're soooooo handsome, are you as amazing as the stories say?'" Rose was getting heated as she began talking about other women. "'Oh, let me hold your arms, you're so muscular and toned, you're so pretty' WELL HE'S NOT AS COOL AS HE SEEMS AND HE'S MI-" Rose stopped herself. Almost having a mental breakdown having that thought, she decided to compose herself in front of her younger self.

"Sorry about that. Anyway. Yeah. Jonathan's a legend, and he's an exceptional leader at that. As for me, they call me the 'Red Reaper'."

"How come?"

"I'm a sniper. A damn good one at that." Rose made a gun with her finger and pointed it towards Ruby.

"And unlike others? I don't miss."

 _Bang_

Rose look was stone cold. Her finger gun recoiling upwards as if she had shot a gun. Ruby gulped. Rose shrugged "But hey, you guys have Aura or whatever it's called, so I guess eliminating targets in a single shot is harder. Anyway. They called me the Red Reaper because I was stationed in several cities for months at a time with Jonathan. Some orders involved hits."

"Hits?"

"Assassinations."

Ruby sighed. Her face slightly somber. "You know. You're really not comforting me with the whole 'You're not fated to kill people' thing…"

Rose cleared her throat. "Sorry. But that's." Rose sighed. "That's the reality of my world. I've become a trained sniper in order to save others."

"To save others?"

"Depends on who I'm taking out. Anyway. Jon was always the one in charge of up close and personal operations. He was partners with a guy named Samuel Ortez and Mason Wu for a while too when it came to jobs like that. Though…, anyway. I was the one in charge of sitting in cramped spaces for days on end waiting for a target and a perfect opportunity, learning patterns and stalking. Waiting, like a predator in a jungle." Rose's voice became cold. "And in my years of working as a sniper, people who lived or witnessed what I did would always note the red hood. And then I would seemingly disappear, leaving untraceable trails of bodies So when Jon and I started checking local papers, they started saying exactly that: 'A hooded figure who brings nothing but death.' or ' A reaper. A Red Reaper.'"

Ruby began getting noticeably uncomfortable around Rose. Snapping out of her cold demeanor Rose started smiling again.

"Ah but don't worry about -me! You're probably going to turn out just fine." Rose said. Ruby stayed quiet as Rose chuckled. "Anyway. Let's go see what the others are up too."

Rose started getting up and walked away with several boxes of ammunition as Ruby slowly followed behind. Keeping a distance between Rose and her, she felt uneasy. She couldn't get a read on her older self, and she was already bad at reading people. For starters, Rose came off as friendly, loving like the younger Rose. But at the same time, when it came time to business, Rose had a stone cold demeanor, having almost no emotion concerning the…'hits'...she's made in her past.

Ruby worried that her future would lead her to lose her ability to care about the people around her. Worried that she might slowly become a slight sociopath who was comfortable with taking others lives.

"She feels like a sociopath…"

* * *

"So." Jon said, having an apple in one hand and then taking a bite out of it. "Whs ta dael wiff yr-"

He swallowed.

"What's the deal with your dead mom appearing in both of our dreams? Sorry."

The two arrived back at the dorm room. After spending some time watching his younger self, Jon observed how Pyrrha taught the young knight. He spoke with Ren about how the training went for the two hunters in training. Ren stated that Jaune was really trying his hardest in order to match the skill of the others around him, and that Jaune had shown a small amount of growth since the time he started sparring with Pyrrha. After a while he returned to his room, where he met Rose.

"No idea. But...this isn't just coincidence. You and I had that vision in the forest too. Right? The one where the younger versions of us were dying?" Rose asked. "You remember both of them well right?

"Yeah, I think so. Excruciating detail, unlike any other dream I've ever had." Jon scratched his head as he took another bite out of his apple. "She said that she was the one who brought us to this world or something. Whatever that means."

Summer Rose was the biological mother to Ruby Rose. In the world that Jon and Rose were from, Summer had died in a plane crash when she was visiting family. The cause of the accident was never found. Being too young to understand, when it finally dawned on Rose as an elementary student, she retracted, and kept to herself. And from that day forward, Rose was an introvert. It wasn't until Rose entered high school that she finally came to terms with it, finally starting to understand the world. Like a child, and without fully really coming to terms with Summer's death for such a long time, her purity and innocent view of the world lasted until she entered college.

Rose was happy that overcoming her mother's death gave her the chance to grow up. But the idea that her mother was back. In some way, shape or form, to basically direct her in some new world terrified her.

"So what do we know? We know that we technically actually did die from being blown to pieces." Rose said. Her voice somber from the thought of her mother. "We're technically dead. KIA."

"And that your mother, as a spirit was able to guide us to this world as two individuals meant to train Ruby and Jaune how to save this world." Jon threw the core of his apple into a wastebin across the room. "Whatever that means."

"So why were we brought here? Why...why did my mom send us here? Like. Its. She apparently just took us from our world? Like, specifically us too."

"It feels as if we're tools. Like. Like we were borrowed tools from our world, just to be here."

"Roll Credits?"

"What?"

"Never mind." Rose said. "But yeah. It does feel like that. The younger versions of us are apparently fated to fail in the near future and the we're meant to teach them."

"But why us? If the Summer Rose of this world apparently was still alive in a spiritual kinda way where she could literally rip us from dying only to have us wake up in a completely new world, I'm assuming there are hundreds of other parallel worlds that she could have taken a pair of us from."

"We're just two foot soldiers. Regardless of the bravado and luck of surviving overwhelming odds, I doubt we'd be able to make an impact in the grand scheme of things. That Aura stuff? Jesus, that makes me terrified, knowing that people have their own personal force fields giving them superhuman durability or strength. Does that mean my sniper ammunition can't do anything? And what happens when either of us get hit? Our kevlar can only do so much. If fighting in this world means going up against heavily armed technical fighters with weapons that all fire high powered cartridges, what happens when we get hit? Or get brutally cut up by a scythe or some katana."

"Seriously. Of all the versions of us that exist, your mom picked us. The pair of us with no super powers or abilities, Like there could have been this version of you in a possible future from this world where you have a wicked badass eyepatch and you were like super grizzled and hardened. Or something like that. Coming from the future like some terminator character. Like. Like, like a reclaimer of some kinds., saving the future." Jon said, his imagination failing him.

"Or they could have gotten a version of you who was basically a video game character." Rose shrugged, smiling. The thoughts she had reminded her of a Korean Webcomic she found. "Exponentially growing and leveling like some kind of MMO character. I figure that would be pretty overpowered and would be far more well equipped to save this world."

"But she said that we were the best ones suited for the job. Suited to teach." Jon laid down on his bed. "Whatever the fuck that means."

Sitting up in his bed he thought aloud."I guess I can teach Jaune how to fight hand to hand." He scratched the back of his head. "Other than that….I don't really know dude."

Rose and Jon sat in silence for a while.

Rose broke the silence. "I guess for now lets just try and get accustomed to this world. We...we don't have a good idea about what's going on with Mom either way."

"Good point. We only have limited amounts of information. We have a safe room here and for the most part we can plan things from here. If we start getting visions again, we can talk about this and then start planning. I really doubt that would be the last vision or dream we're going to have of her."

"Auras, hunters, grimm, semblances, killer little girls with giant fucking weapons." Rose said, leaning her chair back. "And now dead moms. Sounds like some ridiculous anime. This place feels pretty welcoming." The sarcasm getting a smile out of Jon.

"Hey. It could be worse. And at least we're still together. If your dead mom really comes back from the dead and haunts us for some evil, I'll make sure that I put a bullet in her head for you. If not. Well. Yeah. I guess...touching reunion?"

Rose smiled at the sentiment. Her captain was always looking out for her. "Thanks Jaune…"

"Anyway. What are we actually going to teach? Ozpin said something about leadership and to be perfectly frank I'm not sure that I have a good enough idea of what that means. Also, do teachers have to dress up to give lectures? All we have are our uniforms and gear." Jon pivoted and got off the bed, moving towards one of the provided desks that held his gear. Picking up his battle dress and his uniform he started speaking again while inspecting them. "Then again. I just realized that both of us don't have money. Or clothes outside of our military uniforms either. Or anything from our world being able to help us. Fuck. I don't have much experience teaching classes either. Like. How formal is this supposed to be? How the fuck do I teach leadership? I never took a course. Planning is one thing, but commands and adapting is all improvisational. Also you said that all the students had lockers for their weapons right? Do we get a locker?!"

Rose laughed. "Really? That's what you're worried about? I'm honestly worried about our younger selves."

"Wait. Why?"

"Clearly they're not here just supposed to be hunters in training. Right? Something is going to happen. And with us arriving. They're supposedly fated to become saviors and protectors of humanity. The fact that my mother is somehow actually talking to us means that a certain set of patterns and or events is set in motion right now. And considering where we are and who we are. I just don't know how much preparation we could possibly have to really fight against whatever we're meant to fight against. And I'm kind of terrified that we're not really prepared to fight against what this world has to offer."

"Ah." Jon hugged Rose, kneeling down to hold her. "I...I'm not going to leave you. Alright? You and I are going to fight to the bitter end together. I'll make sure that no matter how unprepared we are, I'm with you."

With a comforted smile Rose embraced the hug. Being such a huge guy, Jon always gave the best hugs. She felt his arms around her and felt warm, she pressed up her head against his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his body..

"Thanks Jaune." Rose said quietly. "I've always got your back too. Alright?"

"Crack every fucking skull if you have to." Jon grinned. Standing back up again, Jon decided to begin weapon maintenance, taking his empty rifle off of his desk and disassembling it with some of the equipment from his gear.

Sighing loudly, Rose stood up as well. "I just wish we knew what was going on. Or that we're actually able to change the fates of whatever we're supposed to change. Or that both younger versions of us like us."

Jon turned back with a pipe cleaning in a removed barrel, his grin showing a slight excitement to want to teach his younger self how to lead and fight. "Come on. I bet they totally think we're fucking awesome. We're them! Come on, in a terminator kinda way, that's pretty cool. Granted, more Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese than the actual Terminators."

* * *

"She worries me alot. It's scary." Ruby said. Team RWBY and JNPR sat in the dorm room for Team JNPR, everyone sitting on the floor but Jaune and Nora. Nora sat on her bed with her attention towards the group and Jaune sat backwards in his chair.

After talking with Rose, Ruby made it back to her room and decided to create a joint team meeting about their future selves. Receiving the messages, Ren gathered his team and entered the JNPR room.

"How do you mean?" Pyrrha said. "From what I've seen, it seems that Jonathan and Rose are exceptional soldiers from their world. And that might reflect that you two are fated for great things as hunters in the future."

"It's not that. Actually, learning that I'm apparently supposed to be a crack shot who can ricochet bullets off walls to maximize bullet travel time is insanely cool. And it's also really cool that Jaune is apparently known as 'The Soldier of Fortune' in their world." Ruby continued.

"Wait, I'm supposed to be a 'Soldier of Fortune' in their world? Dude that sounds awesome!" Jaune said, having a goofy grin. "That...actually makes me feel like I'm working towards something awesome."

"Vomit boy's gonna be kickass in the future? Nice." Yang said with a playful grin. "I'll be honest. Jonathan is pretty hot, especially with his shirt being that tight on his bod? I didn't know you'd be so toned Jaune-y!"

Jaune blushed. "Yaaaaaaaaaang! Stooooooooop." Ruby cried.

"Gooooo Jaune!" Nora interjected from her bed.

"But yeah. It's actually really cool! Anyway, I'm not talking about that. It was the way that Rose said everything when she was explaining it to me." Ruby explained.

"Ruby...what are you talking about?" Weiss asked.

"Rose was describing her job. And she was so...cold." Ruby said.

"I mean, I don't think describing a job could be that exciting." Yang said. "Like imagine if you were talking to Weiss, or someone down at her family's company about what they did. Yawn."

"No, what I meant was...she seemed distant from the world. That she felt comfortable with doing the things that she did. And that she was efficient as an assassin. Guys, she's killed people."

"They're soldiers, what do you expect?" Weiss said. "I'd imagine that means you're fated to become an amazing huntress in the near future."

"But. The fact that she's so cruel, it worries me because what if I have to fight things that aren't grimm? Like people? What if I'll face a situation where people use me to murder others?" Ruby was starting to have a voice of concern in her voice. It didn't seem that she was getting through to her teammates. "She...sounded sociopathic. Not to mention the language she used. She said that she was known in her world to bring death wherever she went! That she was the 'red reaper'!"

The group of students murmured amongst each other.

"That does actually sound concerning." Blake said.

"Definitely." Ren said. "Though I was talking to Jonathan. He seemed calm, and for the most part it seemed that he was mentally in check. I don't think that he's the type to mentally snap, but rather he seems mentally burdened. Like the years he's served have given him more weight to his actions and keep him grounded in reality. You might be overreacting."

"We can always fight back." Yang said. She quickly reached over and hugged Ruby, locking her in her arms.

"Ack! Yaaaaaang, what are you doing?!"

"Psssh, bringing death to everyone around her. I doubt it. My sister's wayyyyy too cute to be someone like that." Yang gave her a noogie, sticking out her tongue at her sister, Ruby squirmed around. "Older you is super cute as well."

"Their world is different from ours. To be perfectly frank, I think that because you now know them, you have the circumstances and chance to change whatever fate that you might think you have." Blake said. Her voice was calm and rational, being able to calm Ruby down just a bit.

"So. What do you want us to do?" Weiss asked.

"Can you just observe those two?" Ruby asked. "I just wanna see what they're really like. And be careful! They might be insane!"

"What makes you say that?" Jaune asked. "Jon and Rose seem pretty level headed."

"Rose told me that Jonathan loves using explosives to do ridiculous things."

Jaune laughed. "Wait really? That sounds pretty funny. So I'm a badass and I make things explode? Dude that's awesome!"

Pyrrha followed up. "I think what she means is that you might love explosives a bit...too much in that world."

Jaune stopped laughing. "I mean. Is that really that bad? Ruby loves her weapons. Ren does weapon maintenance like seven times a day."

"I think it's the 'ridiculous things' that Ruby's worried about." Ren started. "Ruby, what was one of the 'ridiculous things' that Rose said Jonathan did?"

"Well...she told me that he dropped from a plane inside of a truck fully loaded with explosives. They landed on a plane beneath them, and then proceeded to destroy the plane with the explosives while they were still on the plane."

The entire group was silent. "Wait really?" said Jaune.

"Dude that sounds awesome." Yang said.

"It sounds insane." Ruby added.

"Unorthodox. But still calculated." Blake added.

"Reckless." Weiss said.

"Hilarious. Did they have a landing strategy?" Jaune said.

"Strange." Pyrrha said.

"Ungraceful." Ren added.

"It sounds like so much fun!" Nora said.

Everyone stared at her before just dismissing it as another Nora quote.

"Anyway. You want us to stalk them?" Blake asked.

"What? Psssh. Stalk? Noooooo-Butyeahtotallystalkthem." Ruby said. "And be careful!"

"So we don't trust them?" Yang asked. "Ruby. They're you and Jaune from the future of another world! Why shouldn't we trust them?"

"Just. I have this sneaking suspicion. That the parallels between our worlds might overlap. They probably know things that we don't because of the lives they've led, and they're keeping them from us."

"That might honestly not be a bad thing either." Blake said. Her reasoning sound. "What if it turned out that one of us died and they'd rather not tell any of us? We'd probably get broken up as teammates because of realizations."

"Or what if they know the individual fates of everyone they love as well? They're soldiers, and the fact that they're constantly on the battlefield might have led them down a life of tragedy," Pyrrha added in.

The group remained quiet for a while.

"So...we start stalking them?" Jaune said.

"Oh, OH, me first!" Yang said outloud. "I'm just gonna flat out say that I _Rose_ to the occasion."

Everyone groaned at how forced that pun was. Even the writer himself told himself that he could do better than this and then proceeded to break his keyboard. Facepalming, Blake sighed.

"You just want to see him shirtless at some point, don't you." Blake said with a deadpan expression.

"Okay, maybe." Yang said. "Aaaaaaaanyway, that's my cue to go start stalking and I will see you guys later!"

Yang crept out the door, and into the hallway.

"I swear. What the hell am I going to do with that girl…" Blake mumbled.

* * *

The next day arrived. And having team leaders come into the lecture hall, sitting down and waiting for the class to start Jon and Rose stood in front of several chalkboards.

"So. Are you ready for this?" Jon asked.

"No." Rose said.

"Cool, me neither." Jon replied.

The two came in their battle dresses, with equipped with their supply vests and no kevlar, they felt weird having the teach a class about leadership. Checking the time, with a few minute before class starting, the two quickly kept going back and forth quietly about what they were going to be teaching. Jon had visible beads of sweat from being nervous. Turning around, Rose saw Jaune and Ruby in the crowd, sitting together. Rose waved to them, as the two team leaders awkwardly smiled and waved back.

"Fuck. Okay. Are you ready for this? Today begins a new normal life." Jon asked.

"Again, no." Rose said.

"Cool. It's time." Jon said. Turning around he faced the crowd before him. A sizable amount of students arrived, each of them team leaders ready to be commanders and leaders.

Jon sighed, and then started speaking.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to leadership 101, I have no idea what I'm doing."


	4. Chapter 4

" _Ruby. You know. I've been meaning to ask this for a while now. But. Uh...you and I have been friends for a long time. Right? Like, good friends."_

 _Jaune Arc sat on a bench at a park. Ruby Rose was sitting on a swing near him, they were alone, with a single light illuminating the night._

" _Yeah…? Uh, of course! We've been together as best friends since college. You were my first and only guy friend for a while."_

" _Right. Yeah. Not to mention our history in training for the military together and all…"_

" _What are you getting at? Jaune, are you okay?"_

" _Yeah! Yeah...just." Jaune approached her and got on a knee and stared her in the eye._

" _Jaune…?"_

" _Ruby Rose."_

" _Thats me."_

" _I've been. I've been wondering this for a while now. But uh. Would you…" Jaune paused before finishing. "Will you be my girlfriend?"_

" _Wait. Is that it?"_

" _What?"_

 _Ruby started laughing loudly, holding her stomach from the pain of laughing. "Dude. We've known each other for like 4 years. And you know I go to you for basically everything. Why would you be afraid to ask that question? I've been waiting so long for you to ask."_

" _I don't know, you know. Maybe I'm afraid of rejection. Maybe I don't know-"_

" _Shh, shh, shh. Jaune. I'm gonna need you, I'm gonna need you to shh."_

" _Okay?"_

" _You're a badass who's already served two years in the military and you're already rising through the ranks. You graduated college while being the top of the ROTC class in intelligence work. You also got over...her." Ruby bit her lip. "You're a guy who's given up so much to continue to be loyal to the friends that you have, regardless of the situations and pressures of the people around you."_

" _And?"_

 _Ruby continued laughing at the top of her lungs. Composing herself and then placing her hands in her hoodie's pockets, she leaned forward and kissed Jaune on the lips quickly._

" _You can't ask out an innocent little girl like me, can you?"_

" _Well. I uh. You never answered my question…?"_

" _Yes. Jaune, I will be your girlfriend. I will go out with you."_

" _Wait seriously?" Jaune grinned. "Holy shit, oh my god. That's so awesome!"_

 _Ruby grinned. "To the socially awkward."_

" _Yep." The two stared at each other._

" _I'm so glad that I let you into my life." Ruby said quietly._

* * *

"HOLY SHIT, GET THE FUCK OUT, OH MY GOD, GET OUT. SHUT THE DOOR!" Rose screamed.

Ruby Rose (Younger) screamed, shut the door to the Lancaster squad room. Crouching outside her face was heated, red, and she had no idea what she just saw. It was late at night, with both sisters in their pajamas.

"What the fuck, the door wasn't closed all the way?!" Jon shouted a bit after.

Ruby sat with her hands covering her face, her sister coming outside of their dorm room to see what was up.

"Ruby! Are you okay?!"

"I..I've seen things. That I should not have seen…" Her face was the face of a girl who had seen things.

"What...happened?". Yang crouched down to sit with her sister.

"It was...oh...what. Do. Are all guys like that?" Rose said. Her nose started bleeding.

"Ruby, your nose is bleeding."

"Is it?" Ruby touched her face. "Oh my god, I am."

"What did you see?" Yang asked.

"I...I...I saw Jonathan. And Rose. And they were. Were…"

Jonathan peeked out of the room, coming out with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Oh my god, Ruby, are you okay?! I'm so sorry you weren't supposed to see that! We thought the door was all the way closed and-"

Yang stood up. "THAT'S what you showed my sister?! ARE YOU COMING ONTO HER?! YOU SICK PERV! OH MY GOD DO YOU HAVE AN ERECTION?! YOU'RE GOING SO DOWN, PUNK!", smashing her fists into one another, her Lilac eyes turned red and her hair started steaming.

Jonathan screamed, and started running, naked with nothing but a towel covering him, Yang started chasing him down the hallway. Some other students stepped out of their dorm rooms only to see Jonathan and Yang sprinting down the hall, Yang chasing a naked man in a towel.

Nearing the end of the hall, Yang tackled Jon, being on top, Jon defended himself from blows to the face. Jon could feel his arms giving out. Did the Yang of this world always hit like a goddamn tank? If this is how she was unarmed, what would she be like with her weapon? Jon shuttered at the thought. After a few punches, he decided to fight back, countering the weight of the punch and redirecting the force somewhere else. Standing back up and with the towel wrapped around him, Jon got into a fighting stance. Yang grinned mischievously, bolting forward and getting ready to deliver punches to Jonathan.

"Stop! You got it all wrong!" Jon said. Dodging each punch left and right, and bobbing and weaving, matching the boxing style that Yang fought with.

"Oh? Wanna explain it to me?" Yang said, putting an accent on each word as she threw punch after punch.

Jon figured that at this point, the only way to not get hurt would be to just keep dodging.

"I thought the door was closed all the way! Holy shit! Ruby must've heard something and decided to just open the door to let herself in!" Jon cried, nearly dodging a punch to his face, and his crotch.

Yang threw one final punch as Jon deflected the punch, having his wrists take the brunt of the force and with him rolling forward. He got into a fighting stance again, thinking that the only way out of this situation would honestly be to trade blows. WIth all the movement the towel came loose, and Yang's eyes just went wide. She covered her face. Jon looked confused for a moment before looking down and realizing what just happened.

"Yang! Jon!" Rose called out, coming down the hallway in nothing but a tanktop and underwear, she came over to try and help defuse the situation.

She saw a blushing Yang, and a Jon struggling to cover himself with a towel.

"Wait. You seriously flashed her to stop her from attacking you?" Rose asked. She crossed her arms and stared at Jon.

"Hey, it was an accident!" Jon cried, wrapping the towel around his waist again.

"Anyway. Yang, are you okay?" Rose asked. Blood dripped from Yang's blushing face, refusing to make eye contact with the two soldiers.

"Y-yeah. Totally." Yang said, wiping the blood off of her face and pretending to be composed.

"Is she alright?" Jon asked.

"Well. Probably. I know that back while we grew up, Yang had a tendency to act perverted." Rose explained. Turning around she continued. "She never really meant it. She was always focused on studies, being too busy for guys. She flirted with literally every guy I knew, but when it came to the actual stuff my sister's actually just a huge prude."

"H-hey!"

"She's fine. It's a single dick." Rose said, turning her head to look at the two, and sticking her tongue out. "She'll get over it."

"I...don't get it. How does. How does it fit inside? It's...it was so large. Goodbye...childhood." Ruby said with a deadpan expression, staring into the emptiness of what was once her pure innocent soul. Putting some clothes on, Rose and Jon invited Yang and Ruby to their room, to explain the situation.

"So let me get this straight." Yang started. "In your world. You guys end up together."

"Yes." Jon said.

"My little cute baby sister. And Vomit Boy." Yang said.

"Yes." Rose said.

"And this is an actual romantic relationship between the two of you."

"Yes."

"And at you guys have been dating for how long?"

"5 years? I think?"

"And you guys also sleep together."

"Yes."

"And have seen each other naked."

"Yes."

"And this is because you guys are in a relationship that is not just sex."

"Yes."

"And this is a romantic pursuit."

"Yes."

"You and you." Yang pointed at both soldiers as she said that.

"Yes."

Yang remained quiet as the two soldiers answered her questions.

"Oh my god. My little sister is going to end up with Jaune." Yang said quietly.

"Yang, don't say it like that." Ruby said. Her expression still completely deadpan.

"Full disclosure." Jon started. "Rose is way more perverted than I am. I'm not kidding, once she discovered the internet." He used his two hands to pretend that someone's mind was being blown.

Rose simply grinned at that fact.

"So, uh. Why did you come into our room anyway?" Jon asked. "Usually people knock before they enter."

"I wanted to see if Rose wanted extra clothes." Ruby replied quietly, still staring off into the distance.

"Oh." Jon said. "Well fuck, That's just poor timing."

"Can we. Can we just call it a night and forget what we saw?" Yang asked.

Rose nodded. As the two teenage girls stood up to leave the room, Ruby left a few folded clothes on the desk and muttered to herself.

"There is nothing I can ever forget. The world is no longer safe."

The door closed and Rose turned to Jon.

"Well I think that went better than expected. Least you didn't tell them Weiss and I were a thing for a little bit."

"Wow. I just realized that Weiss had a thing with both of us. I...feel bad." Jon said. "I'm pretty sure I just scarred her for life. Considering that I was basically comic relief when I was their age. I'm guessing that's not the best thought to have."

Rose grinned. "Least they were impressed with what they saw, Captain. You command a _biiiiiiiig_ ship."

Jon sighed, slapping his palm into his forehead.

"Besides. I'm also pretty sure I got into porn when I was her age. Or at least a year later." Rose said.

'"Can we just. Go to bed?" Jon asked.

"Aww…but we both didn't-"

"I'm going to bed. Do whatever to my unconscious body. I'm gonna shut off the light."

Shutting off the lights, Jon made his way onto his bed and then laid there. He closed his eyes.

* * *

 _Summer Rose stood on the edge of a cliff, her hood covering her face and standing by a tombstone. Her grave._

 _Turning around to show her face, she lowered her hood and started speaking._

" _I hope you're adapting to my world just fine." Summer said, lowering her head she spoke softly and with regret. "I...I'm still incredibly sorry that I took you from yours."_

 _Sitting down on the tombstone itself, she looked away while speaking. "I was...I wasn't the greatest mother. I can only imagine that you were angry at the Summer of your world as well."_

 _Chuckling to yourself. "I always put being a huntress before being a mother. And I guess it cost me everything."_

 _She sighed. "And here I am, even after death. Putting others at risk for the sake of my own selfish needs. Isn't that ironic?"_

 _She stood up,and put her hood back up, turning away. "I need to tell you though. The queen is casting her first moves. Beware the fangs that her pawns bare. The glass will fill with dust, and your night will be heated."_

 _She closed her eyes. "The wheels and gears are in motion. Please. For my world. Fight."_

* * *

"Your mother is insanely cryptic. She's really not making this any easier." Jon said. The two were eating pancakes in the school's dining hall. It had been roughly a two weeks since the two had mysteriously found their way into the world of Remnant. Since arriving, the two had found themselves jobs as teachers to a class of rising Hunters and Huntresses, specialized fighters to the humanity's greatest enemy, the Creatures of Grimm. Also since arriving, the two discovered that the two were in a parallel world, meeting their younger selves and their respective teams.

"Yeah. Well." Rose said, stabbing her pancakes. "She's all we got on this weird supernatural stuff, or whatever we're supposed to prepare our younger selves for." Cutting a piece with her fork and sticking it into her mouth, "She wasn't like that back home."

"It might have to do with the fact that she's dead." Jon looked around the cafeteria. All the students seemed peaceful, eating their lunches and living their lives, just like high schoolers from their world. "We have no idea what we're supposed to look for anyway. Beware the fangs the pawns have? What the fuck does that even mean?"

"And that the Queen had made her first move? When does that mean that we're going to be fighting something, or needing to affect history?" Rose sighed at the cryptic message.

"And our night being heated. I'm pretty sure that isn't a euphemism."

"Yeah. If only." Rose said, looking sad.

"You traumatized a 15 year old girl by showing her a future self of her in bed." Jon said with a deadpan expression, crossing his arms.

"Hey! I told you, I thought the door was all the way closed and I didn't expect her to come in." Rose said, pouting. "It's just as much your fault too you know!"

The bond between the soldiers and their younger selves had been, complicated. It was hard to get a read on both what the two thought of each other. On one end the younger ones didn't trust the two soldiers on behalf of their origins. On the other, the soldiers were completely willing to open themselves up, as long as the information provided never changed the way the younger selves viewed the world.

Spotting a red hood, Jon eyed Ruby and her friends. Er. Friend. Ruby was walking with an hand on her stomach and her looking miserable and dead. Weiss was on her left and helping her, seemingly scolding her about something.

Rose looked to see what Jon was looking at, and smiled. She finished eating and stood up, followed by Jon.

"We got our first paycheck yesterday." Jon said. "You wanna try hitting the city of Vale? We could use some extra clothes that aren't strictly military or too small to wear. Specifically yours on that second point."

"Jonathan Arc, are you asking me out on a date in a world where we have no idea where we are?" Turning her head and sticking out her tongue playfully at Jon. "But yeah. Definitely. Ruby's clothes are nice and all, but they're a little...tight. We can probably head out after classes today end."

"So. Deal?"

"Deal."

* * *

Peeking out the doorway of the dorm, Jon spotted Team RWBY leaving the room with two other boys, one with a tail and the other with blue hair.

"That dude has a tail. And that dude has blue hair." Jon said. "And those guys seem really dressed up. You guys always knew how to dress well in our world."

"And you have a face." Rose replied. "They're faunus. The one with the tail. I have no idea what the hell is up with blue hair McGee. You've seen them, this isn't the first time you've said anything either."

"Wait. Really?"

"Remember Velvet? In our world she was a war photographer. Here she's got herself bunny ears. There were a few others as well. And you suspected that Blake was one as well."

"Huh. Wow. I...don't remember this."

"Yep. I think it's cute. I think you said it was cute too." Rose beamed. "Like bunny ears and cat ears? Tails and fur? That's super cute."

"I guess it just seems a bit off for me. Considering that I've just never expected to see something like that."

"Yeah...they're also discriminated against."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Not unlike the 1950s." Rose put on a hoodie and her combat pants, finishing strapping her holster to her leg and her knife to her belt. "You ready?"

"Yeah." Jon smiled. He holstered his handgun and knife and the two got ready to leave. The one thing this world seemed okay with is the open carry of weapons. Jon and Rose felt safer with a gun anyway.

Holding Rose's hand, the two began to leave the dorm room. Moving down the hall Jon and Rose spotted Team JNPR's door open. Crossing the doorway, Pyrrha spotted them, raising her hand towards them and waving.

"Hello!" She said with a smile. "Where are you two going?"

"Jonathan and I were planning on hitting up the city. We need new clothes that aren't our world military or uh…" Rose said, looking at herself. "Tight. Man. At least it makes me look good."

"I...see." Pyrrha spotted the two soldiers holding hands. Her smile dropped a bit.

"Would it be alright if my team and I came with you? We could use a night off and bond as a team."

The rest of Team JNPR stopped what they were doing to stare at the door.

"...yes?" Jon replied shakily, Rose facepalmed.

"Oh wonderful! Give us a few minutes, we'll get ready."

The door to JNPR closed and Rose leaned against the wall. Loud crashing noises could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Was something wrong with me saying yes?" Jon asked.

"I wanted to be our night out. Like I love these guys and all, they've shown nothing but kindness, even if it seems uneasy, but I kinda didn't expect them to tag along." Rose said, crossing her arms. She looked away from Jon. "Its...its her. Isn't it?"

"...Yeah." Jon said. He stared at the Team JNPR door.

"She still has a place in your heart."

"Yeah."

"And you feel terrible."

"...Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"We never really spent time like this together outside of military focus." Jon quickly thought about it. "Well we did. College really. But it eventually our relationship became too focused on training that it never progressed from that. At least. It ended too quickly on behalf of. Well. You know."

Rose stayed silent. Jon started speaking again. He looked at the ground, with his hands in his pockets.

"I doubt it was really meant to be a relationship in the first place. I was pretty unassertive. But she thrived off the fact that I gave her attention that didn't focus on the fact that she was some amazing martial artist and student. And on reflection, it would have been symbiotic, almost parasitic as a relationship." Jon sighed again. "I just still feel guilty. She was the first one who meant so much to me that I saw die. To be frank, the day that she died was the day that I fell apart. I died that day as well."

"You want to help prevent-" The door for Team JNPR opened, "-THEM from baking cakes that involve giving people Salmonella!"

The four students stared at Rose, each of them dressed in casual clothing ready to hit the city.

Jaune was dressed in a normal black hoodie and jeans. Par for the course he seemed the most normal of the rest of the group. Pyrrha stood next to him dressed in a white button up and golden-bronze colored cardigan. She wore a pencil skirt that ended just above her knees, being black with her symbol on the side.. Her hair was tied back without her traditional tiara.

Nora was wearing jeans and a grey leather jacket on top of a striped white shirt. It was relatively low cut, slightly revealing her cleavage.

Ren wore a green button up with his sleeves rolled up and a black tie. He had black dress pants. He stood composed and wore his hair into a ponytail.

"You were talking about cakes?" Nora asked,

"...Yes" Rose said shakily. Jon facepalmed.

"I looooooooooooooooove cakes! Oh my gosh, Ren you should tell them about the last time you baked us a cake! It was sooooooooooo good" Nora started, grabbing Ren's arm and shaking him back and forth like a ragdoll.

"Oh boy." Jaune said, sighing. "You got her started on sweets."

* * *

"I CAN JUST EAT MACAROON AFTER MACAROON." Nora screamed.

Rose approached Ren and spoke quietly. "Isn't she also obsessed with Pancakes?"

Ren shushed her, "Don't get her started on those. But all things sweet basically freaks her out. Candy, pastries, pure snort-able sugar...Pancakes."

"Ah. The baker's remorse I see."

Ren smirked.

Jon and Jaune both held their stomachs in the same manner.

"Air sickness?" Jon started.

"...Yep." Jaune replied. The soldier chuckled, laughing at the fact that there are parallels between woirlds that were meant to be.

The group was on an airship, ready to land and dock at the city of Vale. As it landed and the doors open, both Jaune and Jon ran out, vomiting into the nearest trash bin they could find.

Pyrrha came over and pat Jaune on the back.

"Jaune, are you okay?"

Wiping his mouth, Jaune looked up at her. "I hate hate, HATE air travel."

Rose approached Jon. "You okay big cat?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. No kisses tonight." Rose stuck her tongue out. Jon laughed at the statement, wiping his mouth with his arm and then regrouping with everyone.

Pyrrha once again slightly frowned. No one noticed.

"Sooooooooooo," Rose started. "You guys have any idea of where to go for clothes?"

"Well," Pyrrha started, "we can start with the Vale mall, and then there's a small outlet a few bl-"

"OH OH OH! LET'S GO TO THAT ONE!" Nora shouted, pointing at a random clothing store.. "We got Renny's clothes from that one!"

Dragging Ren by the collar and moving towards the store the entirety of the rest of the group sighed and reluctantly started heading towards the store.

The store was called Binco, having a wide variety of colorful clothing.

"Why is...everything so...colored?" Jon asked Ren. The shirts in front of him were all brightly colored with only a single black shirt.

"Everyone is named after a color. There was a great war against Grimm in ancient times. And surviving that, humanity decided that the greatest way to celebrate would be express themselves. And so humanity started naming themselves after color." Ren explained.

"Oh."

Looking through the clothing of the store, Ren and Jaune were helping Jon pick out clothes. Grabbing several pairs of jeans and a few shirts, Jon went into the fitting room.

Rose, Nora, and Pyrrha found themselves in a pile of clothes.

"So…" Pyrrha started.

"So." Rose replied, checking to see if a hoodie would fit her or not, checking herself out with a mirror, not giving Pyrrha and Nora much attention."

"You and Jon are together?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yep!" Rose added another red and black shirt to a small pile she was collecting to fit.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are together?!" Nora said.

"Yes. Calm down." Rose said, checking out some jeans.

"But Jaune and Pyr-" Pyrrha covered Nora's mouth.

"We've been together for like 5 years. It's not unlike how you and Ren are."

"Well. We're not together together."

Rose chuckled. "You keep telling yourselves that. I'm going into the fitting room."

Disappearing into the fitting room, Nora stared at Pyrrha and grinned slightly. "Ohhhhhh, jealous, are we?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Of course!"

Pyrrha blushed. "I just. I'm worried. Why does Jon pick Rose in their world…?"

* * *

"So. How do I look?"

Jaune came out with fake glasses, a button up shirt and cargo shorts.

"You look absolutely pretentious." Rose said. She was wearing a red and black baseball shirt, it was slightly baggy. She wore leggings. "Change."

Going back in laughing, the two went back into the fitting rooms to change once more. Coming back out, Rose wore a short sleeve hoodie that was a dark red. It wrapped tightly around her torso and it led to black skinny jeans. Jon came out wearing a black T-Shirt, like his old shirt, it tightly hugged his body, showing off his build and his arms. He wore jeans like his younger counterpart.

"Now we can say we dress normally here." Jon smiled. Pyrrha blushed looking at Jon, his handsome face giving her high expectations for the younger specimen.

Nora and Ren complimented both of them, and the group left the store, with each soldier having more casual clothing to help them fit into this world.

"So. Food?" Jon asked.

"We could do food." Jaune said, Ren nodding in agreement.

"Oh oh! How about the Paris Baguette over there!" Nora pointed.

"We're talking about foods that aren't sweets." Jaune said. "Though that begs the question. What's a Paris? And what does that have to do with Baguettes?"

Jon and Rose looked at each other.

"Wait what?"

As the group moved into the outlet previously mentioned by Pyrrha, they passed an alleyway.

"You Faunus piece of shit!" a voice cried.

"Yeah! What makes you think you're ab-" A woman screamed, cut off by the sounds of a punch.

Lancaster and JNPR peeked the corner, seeing three men with animal ears wearing masks. They wore normal clothing and were standing over well dressed middle aged man and woman. .

"Why are the faunus acting this way?" Jaune asked.

"Despicable."

Jon moved up. "Hey! Assholes!"

The three Faunus punks turned around, one of them having a purse in his hand.

"Step away from the couple." Jon said firmly. Rose and JNPR watched as Jon tried to defuse the situation.

"And who the hell are you?" One of them said, sneering.

"Captain America, bitch. Well. Not really. I don't have a shield on me."

No one laughed.

"No but seriously, step away from the couple." Jon said in a clear voice.

"And what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll call the cops?" Rummaging through his pockets, he kept moving. The faunus just looked at one another. "Shit. Wait. Rose, could i get your Pho- Scroll?"

Rose threw her scroll towards Jon, catching it, he turned around only to see three individuals charging him. Barreling forward, he used brute strength in order to break through the charge. Team JNPR and Lancaster got into a fighting stance, surrounding the White Fang members.

"Look. It's a Friday night, and most of us don't really wanna fight. We're out to have a good time. So what say you guys drop the purse, and let these innocent-"

"Innocent?!" One White Fang "This man is an investor in the Schnee Dust Company, why the FUCK would you be defending him?!"

"I...know some of those words, and not in that order." Jon said. Ren and Pyrrha facepalmed. "And to be frank, I don't care. Drop the purse. You're surrounded. Violence shouldn't be your answer to your problem."

Grunting, two faunus complied, dropping their stances and seeing that they were outnumbered. The one with the purse kept holding the purse and looked around. He bolted, passing Jon and him turning tail and giving chase.

"Ren! Nora! Make sure the couple is okay and watch over our bags! Make sure the other two punks don't move! Pyrrha, Jaune, Rose, get into the building and try to cut him off, and make sure that she has a scroll to stay on comms!" Jon shouted, running off.

Nora and Ren approached the other Faunus, Nora grinning and cracking her knuckles.

"Now, my friend here doesn't have a lot of patience," Ren started. "But if you guys try anything, she will not hesitate to actually break your legs."

"Come on. Try something." Nora said with a maniacal grin.

* * *

Pushing into the building that was next to the alleyway, it led into a kitchen with several different cooks, dodging each person left and right, Rose and Pyrrha made their way through several people. They made it to the other end, leading to a maintenance hallway with an additional backdoor, kicking it open, Rose rushed outside, only to see Jon's backside as he sprinted across to gain on the fugitive. Pyrrha and Rose started crossing the street in a diagonal fashion, jumping over the hoods of cars in order to make up speed. Jaune exited the restaurant, only sighing when he saw the two girls running more.

Jon pursued into an alleyway on the other end of the street. The runner was still too far for Jon to tackle, and considering that no lethal force was present there was no reason for Jon to draw his weapon. Turning the corner, Rose and Pyrrha stood waiting, ready to stop him. Looking back, the runner spotted Jon still charging, as well as another blonde boy struggling to keep up, judging his options, he ran into the backdoor of the building next to him.

"Oh for fucks sake." Jon grumbled, giving chase into the building and running up several stories of buildings. The runner saw an open door and barged into an apartment. A couple watching a movie screamed, seeing a Faunus with a stolen purse and Jon sprinting in.

"Sorry!" Jon shouted, as the Faunus made his way to the balcony of the apartment. Having nowhere to go, he turned around and saw Jon tackling, pushing the two of them off the building.

Rose and Pyrrha arrived shortly after with the couple screaming at them They spotted the purse and looked over the balcony to see Jon and the runner falling onto a rooftop of another building and into a skylight.

"JON!" Pyrrha screamed.

"Oh he's fine." Rose said calmly while picking up the purse and apologizing the to the residents of the apartment.

Glass breaking was heard.

"You're...not worried?" Pyrrha asked.

"It's like two stories. I'll be perfectly honest, Jon can survive that just fine. Plus the skylight is breaking his fall."

"But, it's still dangerous!"

"Contrary to what you might think, Jon is capable." Rose said coldly. "Stop treating him like he's yours."

Turning around, Pyrrha took one last glance at where Jon and the Runner landed. Pyrrha's scroll began to ring.

"Jon?! Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked.

"Fuck. Yeah, I think so. Nothing feels broken." Jon replied over the phone.

"Is...did you kill him?"

A groan was heard on the other end.

"Nope! Though I think I broke a few of his bones. I did just use him as a meatshield."

"That's...that probably is worrying."

"Anyway. Fuck the purse. I think I actually might be in a spot of trouble." Jon said.

"What do you mean?"

"Do the words White Fang mean anything to you? And by that I mean, do these guys have a thing against humans? And by that I mean, why are they arming themselves at the sight of me? Why the hell was there a warehouse like this behind a residential area?"

Jaune finally arrived in the doorway, with Pyrrha and Rose starting to exit and apologize to the residents.

"Hey ladies. What did I miss?"

Rose sighed.

* * *

 **A/N (That's how people do these. right? Also Chapter 3 was ass. I'm sorry you had to read that.)**

 **I'll be perfectly fucking honest. I don't expect to really put much of myself down here as Author notes. But I might add in a few quick questions that might be answered. Also I want to make sure that I don't add in as many Author Notes as well because I'm fucking terrified that I people would react negatively to the fic that I'm writing. (Which probably means that I should explain myself? But I kinda want it to be me not constantly making excuses for shitty writing? Fuck, I don't know.)**

 **I'm not very good at writing.**

 **Anyway:**

 **-This is a Lancaster fic if you couldn't tell. There are subtle nods to other ships. Namely Airships in Chapter 4.**

 **-Jon and Rose are realistic and at the same time larger than life. They're characters that are supposed to be grounded in the reality of being human while still having stories and peak physical conditioning that carries them through most of their operations. Jon is a tough son of a bitch and has Action Hero traits to him. Meaning that he's always willing to say dumb shit, but at the same time would be able to fight like. 25 Metal Gears RAYs for example.**

 **On the other hand, Rose's ability in Chapter 3 was the fact that she's also a calm, collected, and cold woman who's an excellent marksman. She's hardened by our world and being a killer that she often acts despondent and distant to the people around her, with only Jon being her emotional support. Being students, the students characters in RWBY might not really understand until someone like Ruby would have to kill someone herself.**

 **The characters are still human, and I know that was a bit of a concern coming into writing this. Jon and Rose are human. They have no Aura or Semblance and for the most part Jon relies on stupid luck and brute force to get him through many situations. He will survive while still feeling the pain of fighting superpowered enemies. (Or not. Depending on the faction.) Bullets are lethal. I don't think I have to explain that. Largely because looking up a video of someone getting shot should just explain it to you. Also please don't do that, I don't want you getting on the FBI watch list or something.**

 **-Rose's ability of ricochet is meant to have a 'gunslinger' feel to it. If you ever remember one of the traits that makes Revolver Ocelot from Metal Gear Solid so awesome, Rose would have inherited that. Her abilities as a marksman revolves around quick reaction time and bullet accuracy and precision. In addition to having a "human aimbot", her defining ability enables her to calculate the angle at which a bullet needs to hit a wall in order to ricochet a bullet correctly. The only reason why she was able to beat Ruby's time in the training room was because of the sheer amount of bullets being fired and remaining in the air, and because like Rose said. "It's pretty fucking hard to outrun a bullet."**

 **-The two soldiers actually have a list of equipment that I wanted them to have. These are personally tailored to the roles the two might have in order to work off of each other.**

 **Jonathan wields a HK416 Carbine with an extended horizontal foregrip with an Underbarrel M320 Grenade Launcher attached. It also has a laser module and a flashlight, with muzzle brake if any of that matters to help you picture it better. He wields a 1911 Handgun. He also has a S1000 Shorty 12G shotgun that he uses for close range encounters.**

 **Rose wields her own HK416 Carbine, however instead of a Grenade launcher like Jon, she has a M26 MASS Shotgun. (Think Buck from Rainbow Six Siege). She wields a SR-25 DMR and an HK45 Tactical with threaded barrel and flashlight and laser.**

 **Jonathan dresses like a normal soldier, having all the equipment needed. There are other things that he has with him that I won't say, largely because most of them might just be small or little pieces of utility that could be brought up later.**

 **Rose has a Red Hood on her Battle Dress Uniform. Other than that, her kevlar and other equipment should be the same.**

 **Both of them have several grenades, and being an Engineer, Rose has an ability to fix up various tools as explosives.**

 **Oh and they both have their own personal knives.**

 **-This Fic takes place somewhere in Volume 2, with the first major arc (Which this chapter is the start of) taking place during the Girls Night Out Arc. This is a side story of what Team JNPR did.**

 **-Volume 3 Spoilers if you haven't picked up on it.. (Duh.)**

 **-Jon's penis is massive.**

 **-Ozpin hired Jon, banking on the knowledge that Jon is a successful Captain on the battlefield, and knowing that because Jaune is one of his students, and the two worlds being 'parallel', Ozpin sees that Jaune became or is fated to become a great leader.**

 **-Yes. Dust cartridges can still be used as regular cartridges in the Lancaster Squad's rifles. It's a cop-out. I know. There is no difference in power, only Aura.**

 **I'll try to make another Author Note FAQ thing some time soon if need be. I know that I got only concerns last time from one comment and that's fine. But for the most part this section was mostly just to help people if they didn't understand it as well as I explained it in the story. I know that my writing is a bit shitty but I'm trying my best with it. Hopefully my references aren't as obscure as I make them out to be, considering that Baneposting in Chapter 1 got me punched in the face by my friend. I am pretty busy so I am writing this in my spare time. And for the most part, I'll try to release two long chapters at a time. (Is 15k Words long? I have no idea.)**

 **Anyway. Thanks for reading through my garbage so far. If you like it, go ahead and follow it, and tell me things that you like! If not and you want to criticize the story for how shitty it is, go for that too. I can't really stop you because I'm basically just bold lettering on your computer screen at this point. If you have questions, ask them, and for the most part I'll answer them in the Author Notes I do in the future.**

 **Alright, I'm gonna go and finish the night off reading hentai and then going to bed.**

 **Cyas,**

 **-Acacia**


	5. Chapter 5

"This man is the key to pushing our cause into the spotlight, and tearing down the oppressive walls that humanity has put on us! That is why, we are announcing that we will be partnering up with Roman Torchwick.." A Faunus in a white vest and black hood stood in front of a crowd of Faunus. He wore a mask, reminiscent of the Grimm. The back of his vest showed a symbol with the face of a monster, three claw marks. He was presiding over an assembly of casual and civilian Faunus, each of them wearing masks..

There was unrest in the warehouse they were in. There was a makeshift stage in front, with a sound system for the presenter. Behind him was a giant object, covered in a large cloth. The cloth doubled as a projector screen, with various images and videos being used to propagate the masses about the cause. The ceiling had a skylight, showing an apartment building and the night sky.

"Why the hell are we helping a human?!"

"Because. He's supplying us and providing information. With this we can fight back, and fight against a common enemy that both of us have. The government's, military, schools for huntsmen." Turning around and shutting off the projector, he threw the curtain off the object. What showed was a giant Mecha Robot, and several shelves of different weaponry for the cause. "Several months ago our leader and another operative attacked an Atlas Cargo train with information provided by Torchwick. And here we are."

Touching the leg of the Mecha, the speaker smiled with glee.

"Atlesian Paladin-290s, new prototypes for the future of modern combat. We're going to be making sure that we've got the power on our side in order to fight against the humans!"

Walking over the a shelf and picking up a rifle. "And these, are the tools we're going to use in order to make sure that the humans understand who we are, and that we mean business!"

Holding the weapon up, the crowd cheered. What they saw was a bullpup rifle, its handguards and foregrip crudely painted red for the White Fang cause.

"Introducing the Atlesian Bishop-44! The latest in Atlas firepower. With these weapons, we can finally start bringing the change that we wanted. Down with the systematic oppression of the humans, down with-"

Glass began raining down, the skylight was broken, and two bodies fell through. One a faunus and the other a blonde man.

"Fuck. Ow." The blonde man said. He stood up slowly while holding his arm. Everyone in the crowd looked shocked by the entrance. Looking at the body on the floor and the blonde, every White Fang member with a white vest and black hood on began arming themselves and pointing their guns at the blond man. Raising his hands slowly, he looked around the see the crowd, with guns pointed at him from all directions.

"Just...dropping in?"

"Who the hell are you?" The speaker asked. "And what the hell did you do to that Faunus?!"

"Well. I'm an angel from heaven. What is this?"

"White Fang Recruitment, not that you'd care, it isn't any of your business, human."

"Hm…" Putting his finger on his chin he thought about the situation. Putting his finger as if to say hold on, the blond took out a scroll and started dialing. Several guns were raised in alarm to this, as if the blonde man were ready to call the police.

" _Jon?! Are you alright?!"_

Stretching, he responded. "Fuck. Yeah, I think so. Nothing feels broken."

" _Is...did you kill him?"_

Jon looked at the Faunus on the floor. Groaning loudly in pain, he held his torso and rolled around incapacitated.

"Nope! Though I think I broke a few of his bones. I did just use him as a meatshield."

" _That's...that probably is worrying."_

"Anyway. Fuck the purse. I think I actually might be in a spot of trouble."

" _What do you mean?"_

"Do the words White Fang mean anything to you? And by that I mean, do these guys have a thing against humans? And by that I mean, why are they arming themselves at the sight of me? Why the hell was there a warehouse like this behind a residential area?"

There was a silence over the scroll.

"Pyrrha? Hey uh, I might have to go though, I think this guy really wants to speak to me."

Closing the scroll he turned to the presenter.

"Anyway, sorry I had to make a call. So what's this about?"

The crowd behind Jon spread out, forming a clear half ring of people, surrounding him. Looking around he realized that he was out in the open.

"Guards! Make sure he doesn't leave the room. OPEN FIRE!"

Gunfire erupted, and Jon ran to his side, getting into the crowd as fast as possible.

* * *

"Hey. Where is Jonathan?" Ren asked. Rose handed the purse over, who then gave it back to the couple who was attacked.

"Oh thank you so much! I don't know what I would have done without you!" The woman said. The couple walked off into the streets, waving goodbye.

"He fell into a warehouse with the thief." Rose said.

"Is he okay?" Ren asked.

"He's fine." Rose said, chuckling.

"He found his way into a White Fang meeting. And I don't think it was just any meeti-" Pyrrha was cut off by the sound of gunfire. Everyone turned around towards the source. A warehouse's windows started shattering as gunfire pierced through the glass.

A set of double doors swung open with Jon trying to take cover from a few whizzing bullets.

"Hey guys!" Jon said, out of breath. "Someone there didn't like my speech."

"Jesus, they're armed?" Rose said.

"Yeah. And they've got guns. And a giant robot."

"Wait what?" Jaune asked.

As Jaune finished speaking, the side of the building erupted with a giant Mech jumping out onto the street, its machine guns firing bullets into the streets with hopes that it would hit one of the six.. Bystanders began running and White Fang members began mobilizing. Several of the civilian Faunus armed themselves as well, attempting to fit in with the White Fang goons. Bullets began being fired in the streets as Lancaster and Team JNPR ran for cover in an alleyway.

"TAKING FIRE!" Jon shouted, taking his sidearm out, he started returning fire, firing with one hand to just lay down a suppressive fire."MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

Re-entering the kitchen where they chased the thief from, they began finding their ways into a less populated area. As bullets flew through the streets, the mech began moving towards the hunters and soldiers. The group reached a bridge, being above an expressway below. Looking around, Jaune motioned for the group to get off the streets and under the bridge. The found themselves on a service staircase leading to an expressway for the city of Vale. The group stayed on the staircase that led below the bridge and used the solid railings as cover. The road below was rather narrow for an expressway.

"Why are they after you?!" Jaune shouted. "What did you even do? Or say to them?!"

"Something something I know too much? They had a mech. And a ton of guns. I don't know what's considered high military but, I guess it was? I think they were planning something that was meant to be classified." Jon responded, trying to catch his breath. "Besides, I think I just pissed him off because I was calling Pyrrha in the middle of it all. I think they think I'm some kind of Racist or something like that."

Jon sighed before speaking again. "We're barely armed. I don't think we can stop a Mech like that with just pistols. You guys are huntsmen. Any ideas?" He raised his sidearm, removing the magazine to check how many bullets were left, and then slid the box back into his handgun.

"Well…" Pyrrha raised her Scroll.

The students all pressed a button on their scroll, only for lockers to come raining down from the sky. They landed on the bridge above, just out of the staircase they were using. The group moved back upwards to retrieve their weapons.

Creating a wall of cover with lockers in front of the stairway they were at, JNPR made a piece of makeshift cover with the backsides of their lockers. The doors swung open and the Team started arming themselves.

"Wait. Then." Jon started, raising the Scroll that was in his pocket to inspect it.

"Its under the Utility button. There's an icon that says your weapon is available. Just hit send to location." Ren explained.

He looked at Rose's scroll, and pressed that exact button only for a locker to come rocketing down alongside each of the other lockers. Jon pressed the button again but after changing the designation to his locker. Another locker came down like a rocket. The doors swinging open, the Lancaster Squad's gear were attached to the walls of the lockers. Grinning, the soldiers looked at each other before arming themselves.

"We'll provide cover so you guys can get your gear on!" Jaune said. Lancaster nodded. Jaune unsheathed his sword, with his sheath mecha-shifting into a shield. Pyrrha held her shield and the two of them attempted to shield themselves from incoming gunfire. Mounting her rifle on the shield, Pyrrha returned fire, leaning so that she peeked out to the left of Jaune. Ren stood behind Jaune, and readied his guns on each of Jaune's shoulders. A pair of green handguns with extended magazines and a Kusarigama-esque blade on the ends. Ren began firing away, automatic fire filling the streets.

Jon frowned at the sight of Pyrrha fighting. Moving towards Team JNPR, he grabbed Pyrrha by her collar, and brought her back behind the safety of cover.

"What are you doing?!" Pyrrha said, her voice surprised by the fact that Jon pulled her back.

"There's no need for you to return fire as well. Ren has it covered." Jon said. "At least he has an automatic."

"But I can help!"

"You'd just get in the way." Jon said sternly. "Now stay in cover."

"You are not my team leader!"

"Just listen to me! You are not going to risk getting hurt! Please. Stay in cover."

As Jon and Pyrrha argued, Jaune started shouting above the gunfire.

"Nora! Cover!" Jaune shouted. Nora saluted, with her hammer mecha-shifting into a rotary grenade launcher. Jon and Pyrrha stopped talking immediately, with Jon having no idea what he just saw.

"What the fuck." Jon said flatly. Still attaching a few of the last straps of his vests, he watched as the team worked with each other under Jaune's leadership.

"MISSILES! LET'S MOVE!" Jaune shouted. Peeking over, the Mech fired off a barrage of homing missiles. Team JNPR began moving down the staircase of the bridge, aiming to move towards the expressway for better cover.

As they reached the bottom step they heard several explosions, looking back, Rose was firing at the missiles, and destroying them in the air before they had the chance to land. Jon pulled the bolt of his rifle back, readied it and began firing as well, destroying the missiles before they had a chance to explode on Team JNPR and Lancaster.

Turning around the Lancaster Squad grinned. They released their magazines and placed new ones in, both of them pulling the bolts back on their rifles at the same time. They had their newly clothes on, with their vests providing them protection. Both of them were armed to the teeth, and were ready to take on the White Fang.

"Let's crack us some fucking skulls." Rose said, pulling up the hood on her sweater. Team JNPR took a step back after seeing such a sadistic smile.

"Edgy." Jaune said.

"Move under the bridge." Jon commanded.

"Good thinking, there's not much space for the Mech to move around here. To be frank, it's going to take a bit of time to get under the bridge." Jaune asked.

"Yeah. We can pick off their ground units as it happens. As long as we can isolate that mech, we have a chance at fighting back. Rose I want you to get as far back as possible to try and provide cover. Non-lethal shots only."

"On it!" Rose ran off with her rifle, going into the pathway of oncoming cars, she stood in the center of the road, between each lane.

"Ren! Nora! You guys are on civie duty!"

"Can do, Captain!" Nora hopped off with Ren slowly following by. The two started running into the road in an effort to stop cars from coming their way.

"Pyrrha, Jaune, on me!" Jon said. Slinging the rifle over his shoulder, he unclipped his shotgun from his vest and started moving with Ren and Nora. Nora was able to stop some cars, even hammering one into submission, stopping movement. Civilians started exiting their cars seeing the crazy girl and began running in the opposite direction to get away from the students and soldiers.

"Guerrilla tactics." Jon said, pointing at the stopped cars. "Hide in the cars, and wait for them to come to you. The Mech is really big so I doubt we'll see it quickly. Pick off the GI one by one. Rose has your backs as well."

Walking over to Pyrrha, he handed her a grey cylinder.

"This. Is a flashbang. Its nonlethal. When you hear the first shot, I want you to pull the pin. This part, the lever? It's going to fall off. When it does, throw the grenade. Specifically at them. And Pyrrha, I want you to provide covering fire from the back. Do not get involved in the fight."

Pyrrha frowned at the comment, getting annoyed at the fact that Jon kept trying to keep her out of the fight. She was a world renowned fighter. She could help!

Moving towards another car, he yelled back.

"And whatever you do! Do not look at it when it goes off! And cover your ears!"

* * *

There were around fifteen guys, each of them armed to the teeth with the bullpup rifles shown in the presentation earlier. They moved onto the expressway, and saw a mess of cars. Each of them questioned what happened but no matter. The teens were nowhere to be seen. They heard too much, White Fang with Atlesian products? Trying to make a stand against human oppression? They needed to be stopped, they knew too much just by being there.

They raised their rifles, and slowly moved into the mess of cars. Each of them looked around, with there being no sign of life.

The first goon peered into one of the cars, it was hard to see inside, but he could just make out…

A shot was heard, with the first goon flipping over and landing face first. Each goon turned their attention to their fallen teammate. What just happened? Someone fired a gun?

Pyrrha sat behind the car with the rest of Team JNPR, pulling the pin, she chucked the grenade into the air towards the enemy.

"Did you throw it far enough?" Jaune asked, he quickly peeked over, underestimating the 'flash' and 'bang' part of 'flashbang'. A few goons saw it and looked straight at it, not knowing what it was.

The flashbang went off, exploding with a bright white light, illuminating, deafening, and blinding many goons at once. Jaune screamed as he was blinded and deafened by the flashbang.

"OH MY GOD MY EYES!" He screamed, covering his eyes and falling over. Not knowing what to do with himself he stumbled around as the rest of his team charged forward. Jon came out of the car as well, jump kicking someone as he entered the action. A shot was heard as Rose fired a bullet into the leg of a White Fang goon, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora all joined in on the fight, taking out the stumbling infantry. A few of them started firing wildly, unable to ready their aim correctly. Jaune swung wildly, falling into the crowd getting up.

"Damn it Pyr! Stop getting into the fight." Jon said while punching downward into a goon's face, the sheer force of the punch launching the goon's head into the ground, knocking him out.

"I can fight!" Throwing a roundhouse kick and launching someone into the side of the car.

"I. Don't. Care!" Jon stopped fighting to glare at her, "Listen to me!"

"DID I GET ONE?!" Jaune shouted loudly. Swinging again, hitting a car door. "I THINK I HIT SOMETHING!" He swung his sword around, his shield angling perfectly with Rose's line of sight. She fired a round, it ricocheting off the shield and going through someone's leg. The force of the shot still made him fall to to the ground, and he struggled to get up and was unable to find his balance.

As the goons cleared out, one of them remained conscious, laying down and remaining hidden. He was playing dead to avoid getting attacked. Ren and Nora walked around, checking a few of the unconscious bodies.

"Why don't you want me fighting?!" Pyrrha cried out.

"It's too dangerous!" Jon responded.

Perfect opportunity for the goon. No one was looking. He decided that this was the chance.

"And what you're doing is not? You don't even have an Aura, Jonathan!" Pyrrha refuted. Behind her, the goon got up and charged, taking out a knife while Pyrrha's back was turned.

"PYRRHA!" Jon shouted. The goon jumped into the air, trying to stab downward. Jon dashed forward, pulling Pyrrha behind him and then taking the stab to the shoulder, recoiling back in pain. The goon attacked around the armor, directly stabbing Jon. Jon crouched down, as Nora came in and swatted him away with her hammer.

"Fuck!" Jon yelled, taking the knife out of his shoulder and tossing it away.

"Jon! Are you okay?!" Pyrrha asked.

"I'm fine." Jon said, standing back up and feeling it. "I can still use my shoulder. Seeing how I'm not bleeding to death, I think he missed an artery. It's not going to kill me."

"But you're still bleeding." Ren said.

"I'm fine guys. Don't worry. It's just a flesh wound." Jon said.

"You...you idiot." Pyrrha said quietly. "You don't have aura. I can take being stabbed."

"DID WE FINISH THEM OFF?!" Jaune shouted. His hearing was recovering but he was still seeing afterimages. For the most part, Jaune's balance was still wobbly at best.

"We have to start worrying about the mech." Jon said.

The group turned around. The mech landed on the expressway. Shaking the ground and several members of the six falling over. Or at least stumbling around.

Jaune looked up while on the ground. "We didn't finish them off?"

* * *

Several explosions were heard as a group of 6 exit from the underside of a bridge. Sprinting as fast as they possibly, a mech exited as well, hot behind the six man squad. Taking up the entire lane and being a bipedal tank, the mech stood tall. It walked over cars, crushing each one with its legs. It was loaded with a whole arsenal of weapons.

" _GET BACK HERE"_ Yelled a voice, coming from the mech itself. A PA system installed in its machinery. The speaker from before deciding to climb into the cockpit and use the mech itself.

"Ren! Try and distract the pilot! Nora, get on the flank and try and hammer it to get off balance!" Jaune commanded. "Jon, you have a grenade launcher, right?"

"It's made for infantry. It might not be able to penetrate or damage the armor on that thing." Jon responded.

"That's fine, we just need to get it off balance. Rose, Pyrrha, try and see what you can do from a range, see if there are any parts of the actual mech that you might be able to destroy, like joints."

Rose nodded and started moving back, trying to find a vantage point for herself. Pyrrha took out her spear, transforming it into her rifle and trying to fire at its legs.

Ren charged forward, laying down a wave of suppressive fire as a way to get close. The mech returned fire, shooting lasers and Ren dodging them. Getting close enough, Ren tried moving between the legs, dodging the arms of the mech as it swung around and around. A 40mm grenade fired by Jon connected with the Mech, slightly pushing it off balance. Nora followed behind Ren, taking out her Hammer and jumping high into off a car. Swinging her weapon like a sledgehammer, she expected for the weapon to connect, only for the mech to quickly turn around and grab the hammer itself accidentally. The force of the 40mm grenade and the hammer pushed it slightly off balance but not enough to actually flip the tank. Swinging around with an immense speed and force, the mech swung Nora into Ren, launching them off the side of the road.

"Nora! Ren!" Jaune shouted.

Approaching Jon, Jaune, and Pyrrha the Mech barely slowed down from the gunfire from the soldiers and Pyrrha. Jaune was furiously trying to think about how to approach the gigantic weapon. An empty car was present near Pyrrha and Jon. Gunfire was present from Rose, trying to pick away at certain joints.

"Pyrrha! Arkos Shield!" Jaune shouted, Pyrrha nodded, charging towards Jaune. Only for an arm to land and block her way towards Jaune. One of the laser cannons exploded from a bullet from Rose.

"JON! SHIELD!" Jaune shouted, turning his shield into its original sheath form and throwing it towards Jon. Jon caught it with one hand examined it. The mech fired a laser at Pyrrha and Jon and the two dodged it.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT ME TO DO WITH IT?!" Jonathan screamed.

"There's a button on the shield. Just angle it in a way where I can launch off!" Pyrrha shouted.

Pressing a button towards the top of the sheath transformed it into Jaune's shield. He looked at Pyrrha.

"No. No way." Jon said.

"What?!" Pyrrha said in disbelief.

"You're not doing that. It's too danger-" He was cut off from the force of a laser hitting a car behind him, the explosion of the car upsetting his balance.

"We need to get rid of those lasers!" Pyrrha shouted.

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS WAITING FOR!" Jaune said, desperately behind several cars to protect himself from the Mech's machine guns. The mech swung one of its arms towards Jon and Pyrrha. Jon pulled the front of Pyrrha's cardigan, pushing her forward and then tackling her into the empty backseat of one of the cars and then using the shield as further protection. The mech swung its arm, launching the empty car off the side of the expressway.

"PYRRHA! JON!" Jaune shouted.

"JON!" Rose shouted as well. Angered, Rose looked down the scope of her sniper rifle, aiming towards the legs of the Mech and firing. The bullet penetrated the armor, toppling the mech over. It fired blindly into the air, falling over the railing of the expressway and falling downward.

Jaune ran over the Rose.

"So. What now? Are we follo-" Jaune was interrupted by a hail of gunfire.

"THE HUMANS ARE OVER THERE!" Someone shouted. The White Fang called for reinforcements.

"What the fuck does Jon know that they're willing to call reinforcements to kill us?!" Rose said. She sighed.

Jaune got into a fighting stance with his sword, with no shield he was exposed and vulnerable.

"I need you to cover me." Jaune said. Rose nodded and readied her rifle. "I'm going to try and draw them out for you!"

* * *

The car landed. Hard.

The shield helped absorb most of the shock from the Mech's laser, but that didn't change the fact that falling several stories worth of height in a car, and landing hurt a ton.

But that didn't stop Jon. He held Pyrrha in his arms, him breathing hard from the adrenaline of the events that had just happened. Pyrrha heard his heart beating, still beating at a calm pace. He turtled in the back seat of the car, with the shield strapped to the back of his vest.

"Are you. Are you alright?" Jon said softly.

"I'm...alright." She looked at Jon, blushing at how close she was to him. She felt his breath on her face and took comfort in the hug. "How about you?"

"I'll live. Let's get out of the car." Jon said. The two wriggled out, looking at the car, its front was basically flattened from the impact of the fall, and for the most part, only the backseat remained intact.

Pyrrha and Jon looked at each other. Pyrrha smacked Jon across the face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Pyrrha shouted. Jon felt the side of his face. "You keep trying to...to protect me! You should have listened to Jaune, I could have helped!"

Jon stayed silent. He looked to the side. "I want- I need you to stay safe."

"I can handle myself just fine!" Pyrrha shoved Jon back several steps, and turned away, throwing her arms into the air in disbelief. "And you...you're getting hurt! You can't keep doing this to yourself…Jon...are you okay? Is there some reason why you keep doing this?"

"I...can't say. I need you to trust me." Jon refused to look into her eyes. Pyrrha tried to circle around and enter his field of view, with Jon continuing to look away every time she entered.

A crash shocked the both of them, the mech returning behind them stuck on the floor. Jon and Pyrrha fell to the floor, unable to keep their balance as the mech landed. Standing back up the two readied their weapons, the mech laying on its side. Approaching it, the two fell over again, several supports of the bridge going out and Pyrrha and Jon wobbling around and over.

"What the- What was that?!" Jon said. Going over towards the railing of the he looked down and saw another Mech. As well as...Team RWBY?

"Tonight isn't just a normal night…" Jon said. "I think we can assume that there were multiple White Fang recruitments tonight."

"How so?" Pyrrha asked.

"There's another mech down there fighting Team RWBY, I'm assuming that the supports that just tilted us over was their mech destroying it on accident. Which means that there might be other recruitment centers trying to demonstrating and arming themselves."

"That's a reasonable assumption." Pyrrha said.

"Come on. Let's get this asshole out of his cockpit." Turning away from the railing of the bridge, the two slowly crept towards the mech, it started moving again, struggling to pick itself up and land on its feet. The fall damaged its missile launcher, with the only available weapons being the machine guns and a single laser cannon. Its leg was partially destroyed and both Huntress in training and soldier noticed that it was struggling to stay upright. Moving backwards, Jon heard the whirring of its machine guns, Jon started firing at the broken leg. Jon readied his grenade launcher, firing a 40mm round into its leg. The explosion was enough to upset the balance of the mech, sending it toppling over. Pyrrha used her semblance, having the legs of the mech glow, and be torn apart by her control of metal. Tossing the legs away, she used her semblance to start moving the cockpit.

The hatch of the cockpit flew open, with the pilot coming out, slowly.

There were sounds of glass breaking.

"Stay right there, buddy." Jon said calmly, rifle aimed at the Speaker from the Recruitment presentation. The Speaker looked up, raising his hand to reveal a grey cylinder.

"Wait wai-" Smoke started hissing out, and there were three sets of coughing heard. Jon and Pyrrha tried to make out what was going on. Pushing through the smoke, the speaker was gone. Looking around, there was a service ladder, running towards it, the two spotted the White Fang Speaker dropping, sliding down the ladder. The two gave chase, Pyrrha going first and Jon following.

As the two climbed down, they heard a Bullhead flying away.

The two landed, only to hear a terrible pun made before seeing a manhole cover removed and checked it out. Jon sighed. Pyrrha and Jon remained hidden from Team RWBY, leaving their operation to themselves in order to stay hot on the Speakers trail. He knew something, something that he didn't want people seeing.

"Why the fuck would you make a joke about plans falling apart…?" Jon said.

Dropping down first, Pyrrha followed. The two held their noses because of the overwhelming smell.

* * *

Gunfire rang out across the messy expressway, diving from car to car, Jaune was trying to actively attack and draw out goons. As a barrage of gunfire hailed against a piece of cover he was crouching behind sighed.

"STOP SHOOTING AT ME!" He yelled at them.

Jaune's scroll rang.

"Pyrrha! Where are you?" He asked.

" _We're in the sewers. We're both chasing the pilot of the mech from earlier."_

"Try to be-" Jaune was interrupted by a White Fang goon coming around the corner of a car and surprising him. Raising his fist as if his shield were still there, the goon threw his fist downward, Jaune blocking it correctly. A gunshot was heard and the goon fell over,

" _Jaune! Are you okay?"_

"Yeah. It's just a bit weird. I don't have my shield. And I'm relying on Rose to really help me here."

" _Try your best!"_

Jaune disconnected from the call. Trying to hold his ground, Jaune had been trying to fight against an advancing 8 people. Noticing that there was a sniper, Jaune was forced to draw them out with Rose being the one to pick them off.

Finding the last one, Jaune tackled the guy, jumping onto his back and then trying to wrestle him to the ground. Jaune lacked technique, but was able to overpower the goon, punching him in the face over and over until the goon stopped moving.

Rose started moving towards Jaune.

"Good job on that last guy." Rose said. "Come on. Help me drag this guy back to that warehouse. I think anyone new to the White Fang have scattered. You and I are gonna start using that place for something...fun."

"Uh...what are you implying?"

Rose grinned.

* * *

The rifle's flashlight clicked on, and the two walked through the dark sewers of the City of Vale.

The first thing they noticed was a trail of blood. The speaker was injured, or at least something hurt him on the fall downward.

"Wait. So let me get this straight. There are people in this world that don't have aura., which probably explains why Rose was able to shoot people through their legs." Jon asked, advancing slowly with his rifle ready. "Which also might explain why the rubber slug I fired earlier was able to actually knock that person out when I fired that first shot?"

"Yes. Most individuals don't unlock their aura unless they plan on becoming a huntsman." Pyrrha said.

"That explains alot. I saw a ton of people who looked like normal civies in that warehouse. Which explains why Rose's rifle was able to pierce through like nothing. Which just might mean that they as a people just want to stick it to the man?"

"They want equality. And to stop segregation between Faunus and Humans."

"Doesn't seem like it. Seems more like a hostile takeover."

The two walked around, exploring and following the trail of blood. They had no idea what the expect in the sewers, so they took it slowly, quietly stepping forward.

"Jon." Pyrrha said. Jon stopped, moved towards the wall and readied his rifle again. He turned his head towards Pyrrha.

"Whats up?"

"I'm. I'm curious." Pyrrha started. "Why...why have you been trying to protect me?"

"I told you while we were above. I can't tell you." Jon said.

"But, why me? Why not...why not ...Ruby?" Her voice with a form of disappointment when saying Ruby's name. "You two end up together in your world, wouldn't you want to protect her?"

Jon stayed silent. He started moving again.

"You've been stabbed and you protected me while we fell several stories in a car. You keep trying to keep me away from the fight."

Jon kept moving. "Stop pressing. Let's move. We're wasting time."

"Jon! I...I love Jaune, so tell me.. Did something happen to the Pyrrha of your world?"

Jon stopped moving again. "You're developing your feelings for him fast. Do you really want to know?"

"Yes!"

Jon turned around, lowering his rifle. Turning around he raised his hand and touched Pyrrha's cheek. Pyrrha stepped back for a second, blushing at what Jon was doing. She felt his calloused hand and stared at a pair of beautiful but incredibly tired and pained blue eyes.

"She's dead. Pyrrha." Jon said. "I'm sorry."

There was a moment of silence as Pyrrha stared at Jon. His voice quiet, his face reflected pain as he brought her up.

Pyrrha stepped back, surprised at what was said. Jon lowered his hand and turned around again, readying his rifle and moving forward. Pyrrha stared at his back, with Jaune's shield strapped to his back. His shoulders were broad, as if they were used to carrying the weight of the world.

Jon turned the corner, continuing on through the sewer.

* * *

"Rose...what are you doing?" Jaune asked innocently. Arriving back at the warehouse that Jon started from, the White Fang had cleared out. There was no record of a recruitment being there, only a massive hold on the wall that the Mech destroyed. Taking the unconscious goon to a room in the back of the warehouse, Rose tied the White Fang member to a chair and started gathering any tools that she could find.

"Go into that bathroom and see if there's any running water." Rose said, throwing a bucket towards Jaune. "Fill this up."

Jaune did so, bringing the bucket back towards Rose.

"Step outside the room Jaune." Rose said.

"A-alright, Rose."

Stepping out a splash of water was heard.

"You might wanna cover your ears too!" Rose shouted as Jaune stepped out of the room.

Turning to the White Fang member, woken up after having a bucket of water dumped on him, Rose started grinning.

"Alright buddy. We're going to have a bit of fun." Rose started. "You're going to tell me a few things."

"What are you gonna do to me, human?" The Faunus said.

"Name and rank, soldier."

"Who do you think you are, Milita-" The faunus was stopped by a punch to the face.

"Name. And Rank."

"Look lady, I don't care who you are. You're not getting anything out of me."

Rose sighed. "You really want to do this the hard way, don't you?"

"What are you talking about? You already have me tied up you fucking psycho bitch!"

Taking out her knife, Rose stared at the man. "I will call you Smith. As in Andersmith. I just want one thing from you, Smith."

"You know, you should take me to dinner before you start trying to get to know me."

Rose frowned. Flipping the knife around, she drove it into the mans leg. He screamed out in agony.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! OH GOD."

"Oh. You don't have your aura unlocked?" Rose asked, she twisted the knife, the man screaming even louder.

"OKAY LADY, WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

Rose smiled. "Now that wasn't so hard. Now was it? Now. Tell me, what did my friend see that you sent 23 men and a giant robot to kill us?"

"We- we're mobilizing. An, an assault onto Beacon Academy. Your friend walked into a recruitment center for the White Fang, but- but we were also unveiling the plans. Your friend walked into that."

"When?"

"I, I don't know!"

Rose took out her pistol, and fired into the foot of Smith. Smith started screaming again.

"That, is a .45 ACP round. It can kill yes. But in the right places, it should simply incapacitate."

"OKAY, AND?!" Smith screamed.

"The bullet should expand when it enters your body, And it should administer a lot of pain."

"FUCKING HELL LADY, WHY-"

"Tell me when!" Rose shouted. Striking the man across the cheek again.

"The Vytal festival!" The man started sobbing.

"Good. Now. Why Beacon?"

"Fucking hell Lady, I don't know! They don't tell me shit!" The man cried. He started sobbing, urinating himself in fear in the process. "I...I don't know…"

Rose stayed silent, standing up. "My friend is chasing your speaker friend from the recruitment earlier. Where is he headed?"

"The sewer? Probably towards the docks. There's. There's a warehouse that some guys are planning in."

"There. Was that so hard Smith?" Rose patted down the Faunus, finding a wallet. Opening it and reading the ID that was inside she smiled.

"Francis Grey." Rose said aloud. "Okay Grey. I want you to quit the White Fang."

"You can't just quit, there's injustice in-"

"You're quitting. And if you don't in two weeks. I will find you. And I will put a golf ball sized hole in your fucking skull."

Grey shut up.

"Now untie yourself, and don't tell anyone you saw us." Rose said, as she left the room.

Jaune stared at the backside of this woman as she exited the doorway. She motioned for Jaune to follow.

This was who Jaune was meant to date in a few years? Jaune shuddered at that thought.

"Jaune. Scroll." Rose asked. Jaune handed her the scroll and Rose began dialing her number.

" _Hey."_

"Hey Jon."

" _Hey Rubes."_

"So I figured out where the speaker was going."

" _Yeah?"_

"Should be at the city docks."

" _Oh. I know already."_

"Wait. How?"

" _Well…"_ Jon trailed off, not ever finishing his sentence.

"Anyway...I have no clue what you just were about to follow that up with. But I'm heading over with Jaune."

The call ended, Rose motioned for Jaune to start moving.

"You know where the docks are, right?" Rose asked, checking the contents of her weapons again before waiting for Jaune to lead the way.

* * *

"So." Jaune started Awkwardly as the two walked down the streets of Vale. Rose smiled at that awkwardness. For as long as she's known her Jon, he started off college as an incredibly introverted and awkward boy.

"What's up, Jaune?"

"That was a thing you just did." Jaune said.

"What thing?" Rose said innocently.

"Torture." Jaune said. His voice quiet and afraid in tone.

"Jaune Arc, are you scared of a little girl?" Rose said while laughing, winking at him and punching him in the arm lightly.

"Ow." Jaune said, rubbing his arm. He felt uncomfortable. Ruby was right. Maybe these versions of them were insane.

The two were walking towards the docks, Jaune had told Rose that there wasn't much of a distance from the warehouse to the docks. Rose said that Jon and Pyrrha were probably fine and that they didn't have to rush. The two were walking side by side, a short girl armed to the teeth with two large rifles that were roughly shorter while comparing firearm length and her height.

"Though. I don't expect you to be comfortable around me." Rose said, she didn't look at Jaune as she said that. Her voice stopped having a playful tone to it. It was somber, and she spoke down to Earth.

"Is it that obvious?" Jaune said, having a sorry look on his face.

"You pick up a lot on how to get information when you're in the business that I'm in." Rose said. "How to get it. How to spot it. How to read it. How to interpret it."

Jaune slowed down a bit.

"How to extract it." Rose said coldly. "How to bury it."

"You didn't have to torture him…" Jaune hesitantly said.

"It was the fastest way to get information of where Jon and Pyrrha might be headed. He's just some random foot soldier. Er. Gang banger? I don't know. The fuck is the White Fang? A gang? An army? Like, seriously, I know it's an activist group but still. Anyway, he's not going to break though if I ask nicely. Besides I got some more information that might really help Beacon."

"And that justifies it?" Jaune asked.

Rose didn't respond. Jaune ran up to get to her side.

"Rose, answer me. You might be part of some elite military squad in your world, but come on. I get that he's probably not innocent but you can't just torture someone on the spot because you wanted to know something." Jaune's voice was serious, his voice raising in volume.

Rose stopped moving.

"You know. I never said that I disliked it." Rose said.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Jaune said.

"Torture." Rose started, she stared into Jaune's blue eyes. "I honestly believe it's the ultimate form of human expression."

Jaune stepped back. Ruby really was right. She really is insane.

"Does that justify what I did by any means?" Rose continued. "To you? Probably not. But when we're fighting on the battlefield, any information can make or break an army."

"We're not on a battlefield!" Jaune shouted, stepping forward and trying to chastise Rose.

"And yet, here you are, training to be a soldier, or a hunter, or whatever the fuck you all call each other. You ran away from home because you wanted to prove to your family of military heroes that you're something that you're not. A hero.

"We're in a city. Innocent lives could be-" Jaune was cut off again.

"And the White Fang is planning a goddamn assault on your fucking school! Jesus, Jaune. For fucks sake, listen to yourself! You know full fucking well we wouldn't have known that if I didn't shoot the guy in the fucking leg!" Rose shouted back.

The two quieted down. Starting to walk again, tension between the two of them high.

They walked for several blocks without talking to each other. Jaune felt uncomfortable. Rose knew he did. She quietly walked.

"Y'know, you remind me of when Jonathan and I were still in college." Rose said. She grinned a bit. "Largely because you're basically him. I learned to read him like an open book."

"I keep forgetting that you're dating a version of me. How the hell do I date a psychopath like you?"

"Yeah it's a bit weird when you really think about it. And hey. Look. Jon and I...we've been through alot. Alright? I'm sorry. We...we weren't like this. Not when we were your age."

Jaune sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. Just. I'm not used to...actually seeing methods of torture in person. You see it in the movies, yeah, but like. Seeing an actual living breathing human being that isn't on screen? It's kinda terrifying."

'I'm sorry." Rose said.

Another few moments of silence.

"Just know Jaune.." Rose started, breaking the silence again. "I'm...I'm still the Ruby that you know. Alright? Just. There are a few differences. Physically and psychologically."

No response.

Silence.

"What do you even think about Ruby anyway?" Rose asked, breaking the silence once again. "I'm genuinely curious considering you guys are around the same age Jonathan and I met."

"Well...She's like a little sister." Jaune explained. "She's innocent, naive, funny, adorable, and-"

Jaune was cut off by sound of laughter.

"You are so innocent. It is absolutely adorable." Rose said, her left hand covering her face as she tried to hold back her laughter.

"What?" Jaune asked, flustered.

"You'll understand the more you get to know little me." Rose said.

"Wait what do you-" Jaune said.

"I'll give you a hint, vomit boy." Rose said, sticking out her tongue.

"What?"

"I knew that I had a thing for Jon the moment that I met him." Rose said. She turned around and skipped along, humming a tune and pretending that she was an innocent little girl.

Jaune blushed. He knew that Rose was just now purposely trying to mess with him, but didn't change the fact that Rose was dating him. At least an older version of him from a different world.

"Oh shit." Rose said, stopping in her tracks.

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked. Looking up he saw what she meant.

"Oh."

The two took off running.

* * *

" _Wait. How?"_ Rose asked over the Scroll.

"Well…" Jon trailed off, as he choked a guard to unconsciousness. He looked over to the buildings before him, seeing a lot of White Fang activity. The trail of blood still giving him a trail to follow, Jon stayed back, seeing the heavy security on the docks.

" _Anyway...I have no clue what you just were about to follow that up with. But I'm heading over with Jaune."_

Disconnecting from the call, Jon and Pyrrha hugged a stack of crates near the sewers they had just exited from. Taking out a pair of binoculars from his equipment pouch, he started counting and taking note of where patrols were. He decided that the best way to go about doing things would be to enter the warehouses from the rooftops.

He spotted a Bullhead land near the warehouse, spotting an orange haired man in a bowler hat and grey coat exit, followed by a very tiny girl with multicolored hair. She wore a white jacket and was carrying an umbrella.

Pushing forward, Jon snuck around, crouching and dodging various fields of view. He motioned for Pyrrha to follow him, remaining silent as they two snuck through. There were one or two bodies that the Jon left behind, all unconscious and knocked out. Reaching several boxes, Jon motioned for Pyrrha to follow. The two climbed up on the stack of boxes, just barely reaching short of the rooftop.

"Okay. I'm going to set myself up in a position where I can launch you above onto the rooftop." Jon said quietly, he squatted down and cupped his hands. "I want you to jump onto my hand, and then use my shoulder as a stepping stone."

"Okay."

"Ready when you are. Make sure you take out anyone up there."

Pyrrha stepped onto Jon's hand, stepping up and using his shoulders to jump onto the rooftop. Cursing silently as his body screamed out in pain he forgot that he was stabbed earlier, and Pyrrha just stepped on the wound.

With heels.

Hearing two thuds, Pyrrha peeked over the rooftop and helped Jon up. Helping him up, Jon rubbed his shoulder as he was helped up.

"Are you okay?" A lack of emotion compared to how sweet she usually sounded when speaking.

"Fuck. Yeah, no, I'm fine, just. Your heels just stabbed where I got stabbed."

"Oh. Sorry." Pyrrha said flatly.

"Anyway. Let's move."

The roof of the warehouse had a skylight, leading into a large amount of cargo below. There were enough crates stacked up for the two to fall safely. Peeking into the warehouse, there were many guns aimed at the doorway. Any guard was positioned and ready barricaded to defend against any intruders. The bleeding speaker fell in front of the bowler hat man.

"I'm sorry sir! I...I lost the equipment. They just were able to-"

"For gods sake, and you led them, here?"

"Y-yes…"

Facepalming, the man in the bowler hat walked over to a table against a load of cargo. He started thinking.

"I've worked too damn hard to make this a reality. The fact that someone knows is dangerous. The lot of you!"

Turning around, the bleeding speaker, was shot. An arrow pierced through his chest as he fell over, blood splattering out onto the bowler man's suit.

"Oh. And I just got this cleaned!"

"Roman? Be a dear and kill anyone who isn't fit for the assault.." A female voice said. Her voice sultry. "You know that I will not accept anything short of perfect. Tell the men in here to mobilize. You have a pest to take care of."

Looking up, there was a catwalk with a woman in a red dress, Jon and Pyrrha couldn't make out her face, seeing her walk away into a doorway and disappearing into the night. The two kept their eyes on the group below.

"Last HE 40mm and Grenade. Perfect." Jon said under his breath, feeling his vest and checking his equipment quickly.

Readying the grenade and his grenade launcher. He was alerted by a step behind him, he turned around, taking out his handgun and seeing the girl with multicolored hair take a blade out of her umbrella and slashing downward. Dropping the primed grenade and letting go of the lever, Jon also rolled away, dodging the blade. Pyrrha followed suit in the opposite direction. The two fell off the cargo, falling onto other boxes below, and then landing onto the ground.

All the guns in the room turned around, trained towards Jon. He smiled, the grenade above blew up, throwing off the people in the warehouse, Jon readied his rifle and fired the grenade launcher, blowing up the squad of gunmen in the warehouse. Explosions started going off, and boxes of cargo started going off. Electric sparks, fire, Icicles, started going about the warehouse. Everyone stumbled around from the amount of explosives that started going around. Jon and Pyrrha stayed down on the ground, the two keeping their heads down and trying to stay safe.

"WHAT?! NO!" Roman shouted, reaching outwards and then shielding his face with his arm.

"Pyrrha! Whats going on?" Jon shouted.

"It looks like the cargo was pure dust." Pyrrha shouted back. "Your explosives must've started a chain reaction!"

"And who. The hell, are you?!" The man in the bowler hat shouted. The multi haired girl coming over and standing with him. The White Fang was mostly knocked out or dead, 40mm fired by Jon doing devastating damage to the gunmen. Not to mention the amount of extra effects from the dust.

Roman started again. "You know. I built this supply for the past few months, all for you to come in. Do you even know what you just did to me?!"

"Uh." Jon said.

"Goddamnit! So much Dust, only for it to be ruined." The man sighed. "Y'know. I had a really REALLY annoying night. I had a run in with some annoying little girls, I got blood on my suit, and now you decided to destroy everything I've built up for the past few months? Hold on."

Roman took a scroll out of his jacket pocket, raising it to his ear and talking.

"Cin- no I get it. Stop. No. Nothing hap- Don't worry- No. Stop. Stop talk-" He said, quickly getting cut off off after every word. Grunting in frustration, he closed the device, ending the call and hanging up on whoever he was on the phone was.

Roman sighed again. "So my boss just checked to see if I was still alive. Sadly, my boss is really. REALLY angry with me. But she has places to be. And she's going to leave you two with me."

Roman raised his Cane, the bottom of it flipping upwards becoming a front sight. Roman fired several projectiles, Jon and Pyrrha expertly dodging them. The girl with multicolored brown and pink hair approached Jon, the petite girl with a sly grin on her face, holding her umbrella and walking towards Jon.

He noticed that she swayed her hips every time she took a step.

"Who ya impressing, doll?" Jon said, lowering his rifle slightly.

Swatting the rifle away with the tip of the umbrella, the girl came forward, swinging her umbrella towards Jon's temple. The rifle swinging away from his left hand, he let it fall freely from his other hand, while using his left hand to block the umbrella. He let go of his rifle, shifting his weight so that it would fall naturally with his sling.

"I shall dub thee, ice cream girl!" Jon said with a playful smile. He reached for his knife, unsheathing it and swinging above her head. She ducked, countering with a jab to Jon's stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"It's...always the cute ones." He quipped as he regained his posture.

Pyrrha charged Roman, dodging the shots that he fired from his cane. Approaching him, she bashed away the cane with her shield, pushing her weight into Roman himself, and staggering him into a stumble. She threw her spear as a javelin, the back of it still functioning as a rifle, adding to the overall kinetic energy and power of the throw. Striking Roman in the face, he spun around from the sheer force of the attack. He tried to attack back, only to be tripped and placed onto the ground.

Looking around, the warehouse was coming apart, the fire and ice and electricity flying everywhere. Supports started coming down and the fire was spreading as the four fought.

Jon turtled as a blade on the umbrella poked out at the end, coming downward to slash at him. Turning around he swung his arm to parry the umbrella away, trying to get the knife onto her wrist so he could disarm her. Unfortunately, fighting someone who's 4'11" is relatively difficult to get a grip on. Especially when you were a 6'1" man with large hands, trying to grab a small wrist. The girl pulled back, and stabbed forward with the blade. Jon raised his arms to block, only for the blade to puncture a bit of his forearm. Grabbing the blade with his bare hand, he pulled the blade out and the girl forward, and then kicked her back, putting a large amount of distance between the two of them.

A support beam from the ceiling fell, landing between Pyrrha and Jon, and Roman and Ice Cream girl.

Roman waved towards them, turning around as he put a cigar in his mouth and motioning for the Ice Cream girl to come.

"And where do you think you're going?" Pyrrha shouted, readying her spear and shield.

"Where do you think I'm going?" Roman shouted, Neo following behind. Roman turned around once more to make his dramatic exit.

"What do you think I'm going to do? I'm going to do it all over again. I'm headed for a place out of town, another place with a bunch of other nasty White Fang members and Dust. Who knows? You might see me soon."

"Hey!" Jon shouted.

"Look kid, I'm not in the mood to fight. You literally just ruined months of work. I'm just going to go, and then whatever plans you know will be just on time. And you can't stop me! So. Ta-ta!" Roman said. Swinging his cane around, twirling it around his finger. Jon raised his rifle, firing away, the girl with the umbrella jumping in and bowing. The two broke away into glass, as if Jon just shot a window.

"What the fuck?" Jon said.

"It must be her semblance." Pyrrha said. The two heard a Bullhead outside, taking off into the sky.

"Shit." The two found their around all the fire and made their way outside, the flames of the warehouse lighting up the night.

"Sayonara Kiddies!" Roman waved his hand as the bullhead took off.

Rose arrived with Jaune, seeing the massive fireball that Jon accidentally caused.

"Jesus, what the fuck happened?" Rose asked.

"I might have accidentally spoiled their plans." Jon said.

"How do you accidentally spoil plans?"

"I accidentally dropped a grenade."

Pyrrha glared at him.

"What? Ice Cream girl scared me!" Jon said.

"You two okay? You guys fell a long way." Jaune asked. "How's your shoulder?"

"Peachy." Jon responded.

Pyrrha started moving towards Jaune. Her arms folded as if she were terrified, she started speaking to him. Her clothes were blackened from the fire, the white button up she started the night with was ruined, her pencil skirt completely ripped. Her cardigan was golden no longer. Jon and Pyrrha looked like a mess, and their night reflected it.

"Jaune, I'd just like to go home. Let's go." Pyrrha said to Jaune.

"Pyrrha, hey wait, are you okay-" Jon reached out to her, only for his words to be cut off.

"Please stop. Jon. Good night." Pyrrha walked off, not looking at Jon.

"I'll. I'll go walk her home. I'll see you guys later." Jaune said, running off.

Rose waved bye as Jaune waved back. Pyrrha walked slowly, waiting for Jaune to catch up with her.

"Hey. Cap. What did you say to her?" Rose asked.

"I told her the truth." Jon said. "She died. And that's the truth."

"Oh." Rose said. "Do you, Do you need a moment?"

"Yeah." Jon unstrapped the shield off of his back and handed it to Rose. "Give this back to Jaune for me, will ya?"

"Jesus this is heavy. I'm...I'll be in the room. Just knock when you get back." Rose said, struggling to carry the shield for a moment. "I'm sorry..."

Rose started walking away, walking backwards and facing him and saying "I love you…" before turning around. "I wasn't able to stop her death…"

Jonathan moved towards a wall. He laid his rifle and shotgun against the wall. He sat down and sighed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help." He said to himself quietly. He reached into a small little pouch on his vest and took out several photos, each of them worn from the amount of time they've spent in Jon's equipment.

The Golden Rose Squad. A picture of his world's Pyrrha and Ruby Rose, all saluting.

Another photo. The same squad, now laughing and unable to keep it together.

Another photo. His world's Team RWBY and Team JNPR.

Another photo. Pyrrha Nikos. The woman who taught him how to fight.

The grown man sat there, reminiscing about the past.

Jonathan wept.

* * *

"Neo, for the last time, I'm talking on the scroll, no I will not get you ice cream any time soon."

The ice cream haired pouted, staring at the man with the bowler hat.

"Have you calmed down? Good. Look, our operations here in Vale got pretty screwed over. I'm sorry, how was I supposed to know that he would accidentally blow it up. He didn't even know-"

[...]

"Look, I don't know what to tell you."

[...]

"Yes, with my supplies towards Mount Glenn, everything should still work as planned. I'll notify you about the Train."

[...]

"Okay. I get it, but you didn't have to kill the guy. I just cleaned this suit!"

[...]

"I get it. I'll see you some other time."

[...]

"Good talking with you. Queen." Roman grinned, a sly smile on his face as the Bullhead flew on.

* * *

"Hey! You guys are on Team JNPR, right?" Yelled a blonde monkey Faunus.

"Yeah! You guys are Sun and Neptune, right?" Nora said. Ren slowly following along and carrying the bags that Jon and Rose had after they went shopping, each of them filled with clothes.

"You guys want some noodles?"

"Oh, totally."

"So uh. What happened? Why are you guys out here?" Neptune asked.

"We fought a giant Robot, we got swatted away." Ren said.

"Oh, no way! Us too!" Sun said.

"Wait, weren't you guys with Team RWBY?"

"Eh, they could handle it."

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure the guys and girls can handle it." Nora said. "Now hit me up with the biggest bowl of noodles you got!"

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Realtalk, fuck this 2 chapter an upload bullshit. Takes too long. LOL.**

 **This still takes place during the Painting the Town/Girls Night Out arc. I hope that there's a sense of development between characters you can enyjog.**

 **If you enjoyed it, totally leave a comment. If you didn't, leave a comment and then call me shitty at writing. If you liked Chapter 3, I don't like you.**

 **K. Thanks. I'm gonna go jerk off to dickgirls.**

 **-Acacia**


	6. Chapter 6

Jon's eyes opened.

Exactly 5AM.

He and Rose both got up out of bed. The two put on plain grey T Shirts and sweatpants.

They left the room and began to move outside, leaving the dormitory. The two began jogging around the perimeter of the academy, They kept up with each other and ran at each other's pace, running several laps around the school.

This went on for about a solid hour. The two finished, panting and winded, moving towards some of the recreational facilities that the school offered. Entering the school gym, the two attended to their usual workouts prior to arriving to Remnant.

They kept up their conditioning, trying to keep their bodies in peak shape. The two finished working out, moving back to their rooms around 7AM to see some movement and noises in the Dorms. Students would be waking up at this point. The two entered their room, undressing as the two entered their shower. The two washed together. There were no words as the two had fallen into routine.

It had been roughly eight hours since the fight against the White Fang. Destroying an entire warehouse full of dust, foiling some plans, fighting a giant mech and scattering a recruitment. The two were sore, Jon's body aching from the amount of pain and abuse his body went through.

"Y'know. You probably give Nathan Drake and 2013 Lara Croft a run for their money." Rose said, smiling. Jonathan's body rugged and muscular. Rose's body fit and toned. The two had scars that covered their bodies. Each scar a reminder of their world and the life that they lived, abusive to the well toned bodies that they had.

"What. My wit? Or my stunning mediocre looks?" Jon said, smiling. His stab wound from the previous night had clotted over, and all that remained was a scab. Jon always recovered quickly, able to walk off injuries that many other men might find incapacitating. They were survivors. They always have been.

"The amount of abuse you put your body through." Rose said softly. She touched Jon's scab, feeling the injury. An indication of the life that Jon and Rose were bound to live here in the world of Remnant. Rose leaned in, resting her head on Jon's broad chest. She closed her eyes and smiled, finding comfort in being with her long time lover and survivor.

Jon laughed. He raised his arm and then touched her chin, leaning forward for a kiss. Jon then turned towards the shower faucet, turning off the water. The two stepped out, their bodies feeling the cool air in the room after a warm and relaxing shower. Putting on some of the nicer clothes they had bought the night before.

The two finally had opportunities to look professional, finally letting them rid the battle dresses they always wore. The two began getting ready for the school day ahead. The two wore Button ups with ties, Ruby sporting a knee length black skirt as Jon wore black dress pants.

"Thank god for bargain clothes." Jon said, as he fitted his tie. "I still look like ass though. I can't wait until I can find something that would fit me a bit better."

"Do we actually have any money left over?" Rose asked. Jon turned towards Rose, fixing Jon's collar as a bit of his tie stuck out.

"Just a bit. It kinda blows that our first paycheck was literally on clothing. Kinda wish Oz would help us out." Jon said, he rolled up his sleeves.

"Speaking of Oz, we need to meet with him. Especially about whatever the hell the Vytal Festival is." Rose said.

"Yeah. We can go after class."

The two gathered everything necessary, books, papers, their rifles. The two had no time to really place their equipment back into their lockers at the armory. Getting home near midnight and washing up, the two tried to sleep as soon as possible. Jon stayed up several more hours, thinking about the night that had just transpired and about what had happened.

As the two left the room, Jon wolf whistled towards Rose. She turned around, grinning and sticking her tongue out.

"Man. You were always damn adorable in a skirt." Jon said, staring at her backside, catching up to her and walking by her side.

"And you always looked good in a uniform." Rose said playfully winking at Jon as the two walked.

After several minute of walking across campus, the two made it to their lecture halls. Students started filing in and began sitting down for first class of the day to begin.

"Alright guys, let's begin and continue where we left off last time…" Jon started.

* * *

The elevator doors opened, the two soldiers walking into the office of Professor Ozpin. By his desk was another man, a man with greying hair. He was taller than Jon. He wore a white overcoat and a grey undercoat. His right hand had a white glove.

"You must be Jonathan Arc and Rose." The man said, approaching them before they had a chance to speak to Ozpin.

"General Ironwood, I presume?" Jon asked, shaking his hand. "Hell of a handshake, sir."

Jon shook his hand in pain after the man let go.

"Ah, so you already know of me. I suppose we can skip the introductions." The man said.

"Actually, it's because I've worked with you a lot in the past, Sir." Jon said.

"Is that so? I don't have any recollection about meeting you before today."

Jon looked at Ozpin. "You didn't...you didn't tell him? Okay, I assumed with the meeting time and him being here and the...never mind."

Ironwood raised his eyebrow in confusion. Ozpin slowly shook his head as Jon was asking that question. Jon sighed.

"Okay. So this might be really weird, but I'm from a different world." Jon started. Jon and Rose began explaining what had happened and how he got there. Leaving out the details about Rose's mother and about the incoming 'endgame'.

"I...see. And you two are Captains?"

"Actually, he's the Captain. I'm just a Sergeant." Rose said.

"Anyway. You wanted to speak to Ozpin? A few reports have indicated that some of my equipment was found around the city. And I was wondering whether or not you had some information about that."

Jon stepped up towards Ozpin's desk.

"Mr. Arc." Ozpin said, his hands folded as the two looked at one another.

"Oz." Jon said.

Silence

The two just stared at each other.

"Are you here to say anything?" Ozpin asked.

"Sorry, I just had too. You just said my name, so I decided to do the same." Jon responded.

There was an awkward silence in the room. Ironwood coughed.

"Jon. Come on, don't be a smartass." Rose said. Jon laughed a bit before started.

"Anyway. I had a run in with the White Fang last night. And Rose and I got some information that you might have wanted." Jonathan started. "We were in the streets of the city where Team JNPR and I stumbled on a White Fang Recruitment. They had...they had some really high tech equipment. At least, I think they were presenting it as such."

"Equipment?" Ironwood said, his eyebrow raising.

"A mech. It was bipedal, had machine guns, rocket launchers, and a laser...gun?" Jon said. "They had the numbers 290 printed on the sides of them. Does the word Atlesean mean anything to you?"

Ironwood's eyes went wide. "That's where my equipment had gone." He turned around. "Damn it…"

"Your equipment?" Rose asked.

"Atlas. It is a kingdom in northern Remnant. General Ironwood here is their academy's leader as well as their army's leading General." Ozpin explained. "May you continue, Jonathan?"

"They had rifles. Bullpup in design." Jonathan said. "5.56, 20 cartridges to a mag when I checked."

"Yes...this all makes sense." Ironwood said. Turning towards Jon, he started speaking again. "A few months ago, a train of cargo was attacked by the leader of the White Fang and one of their operatives. The passenger cars were detached, but all of our cargo was gone by the time we were investigating the lost cars. It seems that you were fighting an Paladin-290. And those rifles, B44s. The latest in Atlas weaponry and prototypes."

"Yeah. It seems like it wasn't just the only Mech on the streets." Jon said. "We spotted Team RWBY fighting another Mech under an expressway."

Jon paused.

"With only minimal property damage." He finished.

"You fought one of my mechs?"

"Yeah. Six of us against twenty-three armed tangos and a mech."

"I'm...impressed." Ironwood said with hesitation. "But regardless, those were prototypes. They're not meant for real combat. If you ever have to fight another one in the future, don't expect an easy fight."

"I hope we don't have too." Jon said.

"How did you defeat it?"

"40mm Anti-Infantry HE Rounds and a lot of luck."

"Hm…" Ironwood brought his fingers to his chin, thinking about how he could improve the design.

Jonathan sighed. Rose stepped towards Ozpin. "I also found a bit of information out of one their men. It might be important."

"What might that be, Ms Rose?" Ozpin asked.

"Do the words Vytal Festival mean anything to you?" Rose asked.

"It's an event that we have several weeks from now. It's an international event, and this time around the festival is being held at the city of Vale." Ozpin explained. "Beacon Academy will participate in the Vytal Festival Tournament, leading to representative's to each nation's combat schools to participate for pride, prestige, and excellence. It is an event of having the world bond together."

"I'm...going to assume that that was what the guy I interrogated was talking about." Rose said. "He stated that there was going be an attack on Beacon Academy."

"Oz, it's clear that I was right about bringing my troops here." Ironwood said to Ozpin. His voice having a tone, affirming that he was right.

"We don't know whether or not you bringing your troops to Vale or not bringing such a large force was the correct move.. We don't know what we're going up against James." Ozpin responded, calmly as ever.

"Wait. You knew?" Rose asked.

"Yes. We've been monitoring and investigating recent White Fang and criminal activity around the world. Namely in Vale. Their leader...their leader's calling card is the Queen." Ironwood explained. "And we believe that they've already infiltrated Beacon Academy."

"Which might explain why that Orange haired dude was so calm about leaving…" Rose thought. Her finger was on her chin as she thought aloud. "They might already have their plans in motion...which might…"

Jon finished her thought. "Explain the whole 'plans in motion' part of what you know who said."

"Fuck." Rose said.

There was an air of silence.

"I'll mobilize the troops, start a mandatory inspect-" Ironwood said.

"James. The Vytal festival is just around the corner. The last thing we need is Atlas military personnel checking the students of Beacon Academy." Ozpin replied. "I'm going to have to agree with Glynda in this situation. You'd cause too much panic."

"Our enemy is in our ranks and you want nothing more than to stay passive?"

"General, I don't think Ozpin's wrong in this situation." Jon started. "The kingdom is Vale is at peace with Atlas right?"

"Yes, but-"

"I don't know much about the diplomatic matters in this world, but why the hell would Atlas troops be checking students from Vale? It'd cause too much panic."

Ironwood sighed. "I'm going to put my faith into you Ozpin. And I swear to the gods I hope you're right."

"Anyway. Roman mentioned something about there being a White Fang operation happening in Southeast Vale." Jon said. "I think that's where their task force would be gathering. Or at least where the recruitment centers have been telling every White Fang member to go too."

"I see…" Ozpin said. His expression didn't changed. "Thank you Mr. Arc. Ms. Rose. We'll...we will look into it as the time comes."

The two soldiers looked at one another. Ironwood approached them.

"It was nice meeting you two. I can only hope that we can work well together in the future." Ironwood said, he let out his hand.

"Same tbh." Rose responded while shaking. Everyone just stared at her.

"Ignore her General. But yeah, it was nice meeting you." Jon said, shaking the general's hand. The two soldiers started moving towards the elevator.

"Mr Arc? Ms Rose?"

The two turned around. Ozpin started speaking.

"Please. Try to keep this from being a public matter. And do try to enjoy the dance next weekend."

Jon and Rose nodded, and the two entered the elevator. The doors closed.

"They seem…interesting." Ironwood said.

"They've been great inspirations as teachers. They've been leading classes about leadership and team coordination." Ozpin said. "I'm honored to know that my students in a different universe were able to become such wonderful examples as leaders"

"I'll have to get their opinions on the droids later…" Ironwood said.

"Now...James. You had some other reason to come here?" Ozpin asked, leaning back in his chair.

Ironwood sighed. "About the Maiden. I wanted to talk about the possible candidate."

Ozpin nodded.

* * *

The elevator dinged as each floor passed by.

"Same, tbh?" Jon said. "SAME, T. B. H?"

The man was leaning on the wall laughing as hard as he could.

"I always wanted to say that too the Ironwood of our world." Rose said, the biggest shit eating grin on her face.

"Let's not burn any bridges and do anything stupid here just yet." Jon said. He turned back and kissed Rose on the forehead. "Hey, why do white girls always go in odd groups?"

"Because they can't even?" Rose said. "Or that you can't even right now? Are you saying you're a basic white girl?"

"Fucking christ, we are terrible people." The two high fived.

"Also...a dance?" Rose said.

"Jesus, it's like college or high school all over again." Jon sighed.

"Aw, you know, you could always bust a move down there. Show off those dancing moves."

"Oh god, no."

Rose giggled and then pouted. "Awwww, why?"

"Hey man, no need to bring attention to ourselves. Y'know what we used to say back at those dances anyway."

"To the socially awkward." Rose said. The two chuckled together at the memories of dances they've been too in the past.

The elevator reached the bottom of the building. The school day was done, and the two walked out. Several students waved hello to them as they passed by.

The two found Jaune as he was exiting the bathroom.

"Oh. Hey." Jaune said. He turned away from the two and picked up his pace while walking away before the two could greet him back.

"Hey, Jaune." Jon spoke. Jaune turned around. "You wanna train with me today?"

"I...I think I could do that." Jaune said. He was quiet.

"You okay, buddy?" Jon said.

"Yeah." Jaune said, noticeably uncomfortable.

Jon look over at Rose, who was looking around and whistling.

"Jesus, what the fuck did you do to the poor boy?" Jon said.

* * *

"Oh...my god." Jaune said. He dropped everything he was holding. Jon and Jaune made their way to the dormitory rooftop.

Jaune was carrying everything that was inside of the Lancaster locker, rifles strapped to vests while wearing one himself, and all the ammunition inside. Jon had finished running up and down the staircase of the building multiple times as a part of strength training. Jaune collapsed.

"Alright, take it off." Jon said. He took out his scroll. As he waited he texted Rose.

 _[Cap_Arc : You. Me. We're having a talk later about what the fuck you did to the poor boy.]_

 _[RlyRlyRadR3aper : Can u believe that RlyRlyKoolKid was taken on this thing]_

 _[Cap_Arc : probably by you. Duh. What did you even show him?]_

 _[RlyRlyRadR3aper : dad]_

 _[RlyRlyRadR3aper : pls]_

 _[RlyRlyRadR3aper : iuno wat ur talking aboot]_

 _[RlyRlyRadR3aper : LOL]_

 _[Cap_Arc : ffs]_

Jon facepalmed as he put away his scroll. He turned around to face Jaune. His face was already sweating from the exercise he had just completed.

"How...much...of this….are we gonna….use?" Jaune panted out. He bent back quickly to stretch. He stood up straight.

"Not much." Jon replied.

"WAIT WHAT, WHY?" Jaune cried. "WHY DID I JUST CARRY MY GEAR AND ALL YOUR GEAR ACROSS CAMPUS?!"

"Calm down, I thought it was funny.. And plus it was meant to be strength training. Either way, we're gonna be doing some hand to hand." Jon said.

"Hand to hand?" Jaune asked.

"I know you're a huntsman, but I think it's paramount that you learn how to fight without your sword. Plus. I really don't think that swish-swish-stab is that hard of a concept to grasp."

"Using a sword is completely different what are you-"

"I'm kidding. It's just that hand to hand combat was my forte.. Besides. I can use blades just fine."

Jon took a fighting stance, his fists almost fully closed. Having a genuinely welcoming smile.

"Show me what you got buddy."

Jaune stepped forward, throwing a weak punch, throwing his body weight forward and missing entirely. Jon grabbed his arm, tossed it away, punching Jaune in the cheek and then sweeping at his feet,

"...okay, let's try that again." Jon said, Jaune picked himself up again and the two got into their fighting stances again.

"New rule, I can only use my fists."

Jaune came forward again, swinging his fist again towards Jaune. Blocking it with his forearm, Jon threw his palm forward and grabbed Jaune's face, and proceeded to push forward and then downward. Jaune rolled over onto his back and sighed.

"Y'know, you kicking my butt over and over again really isn't going to train me, it's just going to make me look like a idiot."

Jon let out his hand and helped Jaune up.

"How much...do you actually know?" Jon had a face of confusion, not knowing why Jaune fared so poorly. "You looked so confident in your stance back in the expressway last night when you had your sword and shield. What changed?"

"I've never actually done hand to hand before." Jaune admitted.

"Ah." Jon understood. He came behind Jaune and started guiding Jaune's limbs. "First we need to make your stance. It's a bit like using a sword. We need to make a stable foundation where the enemy can't push you back. You held your own last night so I'm going to assume that you have a sense of how to weigh yourself down so that you can't be easily knocked down."

"Right." Jon moved Jaune's feet to be spread apart, administering the balance in his body between both feet. "Heels off the ground. You wanna be ready for anyone who strikes, and you wanna be ready to move."

Jaune slightly lifted his heels. "Arms up, this is should be a general idea of where your fighting stance should start."

Jon moved to his original spot, raising his own fighting stance.

"Here, if I throw a punch like this, what would you do?" Jon threw a straight, stopping before Jaune's face.

"Well, I could swipe down like this and…" Swiping his arm downward towards the punch, Jaune deflected a punch that Jon threw. Moving his arm out of the way, Jon left himself open.

"And now I'm open, how do you approach?" Jon asked. Jaune responded by throwing a punch forward, it lacked confidence and the overall throw was lackluster in power and speed. Jon moved his arms again at the last second, grabbing Jaune's arm and then throwing him down again.

"Not letting you hit me just yet." Jon smiled as he helped Jaune up again.

"Yeah but you're not really helping when you're throwing me down over and over again." Jaune grumbled.

"Well. What i'm trying to get at is that you now know how to defend and attack, similar to a sword."

"Whoop dee doo." Jaune said. "Is this going to help me at all?"

"When you don't have your sword, probably. Plus if you can learn how to fight with your fists, you can master anything."

"Right…"

"Anyway, I'm not going to even teach you martial arts. I'm gonna teach you how to respond to certain scenarios." Jon said, getting into a fighting stance again. "After that you can show me how you use your sword."

Jaune hesitated before getting ready to fight again.

Jon threw a punch forward, Jaune swiped it away, he threw a punch with the other hand, and Jaune blocked it successfully. Punch, block, punch, block, punch, block, punch, block.

"Alright. Now you're getting it. It's not even martial arts, it's just a natural response you can use to defend yourself." Jon said over each and every strike. The two kept going, Jon throwing punches and Jaune blocking. Each strike led to an increase in speed as Jaune defended. Eventually one of Jon's punches broke through, followed up by two more punches to the rib cage and a palm to the chest, pushing Jaune back.

"I think you're getting it…" Jon said. Jaune got back up, and stayed quiet. Simply defending against multiple punches gave him insight on how to defend. The door to the roof opened, as Lie Ren and Pyrrha came out. Pyrrha was wearing a black hoodie and shorts as Ren wore a plain green t-shirt and white sweats.

"Is everything in your wardrobe green and white?" Jon asked Ren. Ren smirked.

"Is...that my hoodie?" Jaune asked Pyrrha. Pyrrha nodded as the two newcomers sat down.

"I hope you don't mind…" Pyrrha said softly. She put her face into the hoodie.

"It's fine, just. I don't really expect other people to be wearing my clothes. Plus, doesn't it smell?"

"No no! I...I'm fine with it…" Pyrrha said, blushing. Jon and Ren sighed as Jaune took nothing from that statement. Jon eyed Pyrrha, she seemed off. Pyrrha avoided eye contact with Jon.

"Jaune. One more time. And then I wanna spar Ren." Looking towards Ren, "I hope that's alright with you dude."

Ren nodded.

Jon and Jaune set up one more time, and started with slower punches, building up speed again. Jaune tried his best to defend. Eventually breaking through the defense, Jon laid two punches towards Jaune's chest and face, and then finished with a sweep, Jaune laid on the floor.

"Good job dude, you're getting better with this." Jon said, Jaune smiled as the older Arc helped him up. "You'll get better. In time. Take a break."

Jaune went to sit down with Pyrrha, panting slightly from how exhausted he was. Ren stood up and worked his way over.

"You looked fantastic, Jaune!" Pyrrha praised. "You're learning hand to hand combat?"

"Yeah, I don't know why, but it seems pretty straightforward. I think that all those sword lessons taught me how to think in a fight." He said, grinning.

Pyrrha looked towards Jon and Ren. Her expression darkened, and she started looking down.

"Hey Pyrrha...are you okay?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah. I'm doing fine Jaune." Pyrrha smiled. Her eyes were pained.

"This doesn't have to do with last night. Does it?"

"No. Not at all." Pyrrha lied.

* * *

" _Hey Pyrrha! Hold on." Jaune caught up to the red haired girl, her clothes dirtied from the abuse that she went through. Surviving explosions and falling several stories in a car. A pencil skirt is not the go to clothing to wear when fighting people._

 _Jaune was panting, exhausted from running towards the tournament fighter. "Hold...on...oh...my god...how do you…walk that fast."_

 _Pyrrha giggled a bit. "I'm sorry."_

" _No...no need to apologize. Just. Didn't expect you to get so far away by the time you made It over here."_

 _Pyrrha and Jaune walked side by side, Pyrrha body language seemed reserved, holding herself to comfort herself._

" _Pyrrha...you okay?"_

" _Yeah." Pyrrha said quietly._

" _You don't seem okay. Pyr...you can tell me anything. Whats...Whats wrong?"_

" _Nothing's wrong. Nothing is wrong, okay?" Pyrrha didn't dare to face him. She kept to herself._

" _Did...something happen with you and Jon? Should I talk to him?"_

" _No! Please. Just. I'm just thinking...okay?"_

" _Then tell me, what are you thinking?"_

" _I...I don't...:" Pyrrha looked away. "Jaune...do you...do you believe in destiny?"_

" _I...I'd like to think so." Jaune replied._

 _The two reached a park in the city. Nearing a bench, the two sat down._

" _What if you knew that you were fated to die? What if you knew that you were meant too, and that you were never meant to live a happy life as a result?"_

" _Pyrrha, what are you talking ab-"_

" _Wouldn't you feel alarmed? What would you do…?"_

" _I'd...I'd try and avoid it, change it I mean. Nothing...nothing is ever set in stone Pyrrha. I'd like to believe in destiny, and I do, but I don't think that destiny is ever meant to be a something that's set in stone."_

" _I...see."_

" _Pyrrha, are you sure you're okay? You really don't seem okay."_

 _Pyrrha shifted closer towards Jaune._

" _I'm...I'm okay. I'm okay now because you're here Jaune."_

 _Pyrrha placed her head on Jaune's shoulder. Jaune blushed, but he calmed down. He wrapped his arm around Pyrrha's back and then hugged her._

" _Whatever….whatever's bother you Pyrrha. I'm just hoping...I just want you to know that you can always talk to me. You know that I'm your friend. And that I'm always willing to listen."_

" _...I know Jaune. I know. You're a good person." Pyrrha said. She looked back towards the smoke that arose from the docks that they were just at. She thought about Jon._

 _His Pyrrha had died._

 _Her life was bound to end. Right?_

 _The two sat there, and Pyrrha took in Jaune's warm embrace. Pyrrha felt cold._

* * *

The two looked forward, and they saw Ren and Jon in their fighting stances. Ren was crouched down, knees bent as his palm was forward. His other hand at his side.

Jon saw the stance and decided to replicate. Jon smiled, the two crept up towards each other.

Ren threw the first kick, with Jon ducking underneath. Jon responded with a sweep, drop kicking the green gunner. Ren landed on his back, rolling back and recovering, launching an offensive with various palm based strikes, Jon swiped each one away, redirecting each strike away from himself. Jon switched stances, lifting his fists up and bouncing up and down, keeping himself light on his feet. Ren tilted his head, eyebrow raised.

Ren pushed forward, focusing on kicks to the legs and then swinging for the head, bringing about a two sided attack, trying to minimize the amount of time for Jon to react. Jon jumped upward to dodge the sweep, and then flattened himself into a flop to dodge the second. Landing on the floor, Jon rolled onto his back and then pivoted on his behind to dodge a sweep. Pivoting again to have his head towards Ren, he rolled back, delivering two kicks towards the Green huntsman.

Yang, Nora, Ruby, and Weiss walked onto the rooftop to see what was going on.

Ren blocked each kick with his arms, Jon rolled back onto his feet, delivering a backwards kick. Jon composed himself back into his boxing stance. Weaving under a kick and then dashing forward, delivering several straights to his ribs, Jon was able to break through Ren's defense, pushing him backwards and then following up with a jump kicking.

Yang started whooping at the fight that was going on. Nora started cheering for Ren.

Ren stumbled back, but recovered, flipping forward and then bringing his foot down. Jon stepped back, throwing a punch forward, receiving a counter palm towards the chin. Jon stumbled back, as Ren pressured forward and kicked Jon's ribcage. Jon rolled over and stood up again. He fitted his stance into his arms being forward and his palms slightly open. Jon exhaled.

There was a tension between the two fighters.

"Who are you betting on? I'm betting 30 Lien on vomit bo- er. …?" Yang said, leaning on Weiss' shoulder.

"Yang, get off. And I'm not going to bet anything!" Weiss replied, pushing Yang's arm off of her shoulder.

"Yeah, but who do you think is gonna win?"

"Oh, it's totally gonna be Ren!" Nora said, fists pumping and excited.

"Nah, look at Jonathan, he's totally better. He's so versatile." Yang said,

"Well Jonathan doesn't have aura. Look, his punches barely did anything to Ren." Weiss pointed towards Jon. He was holding his breath back. Getting hit in the rib cage gave Jon some trouble. "Jonathan's holding back his pain. He's trying to keep himself together. "

"What about you Ruby?" Yang asked.

Ruby remained silent. She was just staring at the two fighters.

"Uh...huh." Yang said. She turned to Pyrrha and Jaune.

"What about you guys?"

Pyrrha and Jaune stared at her, and then started back at the two fighters.

Ren threw a palm forward, Jon dodged and grabbed it with one hand. Jon kicked forward, hitting him in the stomach and as Ren lost his balance, Jon pulled his hand forward, let go, and then quickly jabbed Ren's face. Ren reeled back and Jonathan pushed forward, pushing his hand forward and then throwing him into the ground. Jonathan dropped down and then placed his knee on Ren's neck and then pressing down. The sheer body weight of Jon crushing down and preventing Ren from moving. After a few seconds, Ren started tapping Jon's knee over and over again and Jonathan stood up again.

Jonathan turned around and then let his hand out to Ren. Ren smiled and then pulled Jon's hand, bringing him to the ground. The two laid there laughing, as if they had always known each other..

"You're incredibly skilled." Ren said, smiling.

"I learned from the best." Jon replied.

"Oh? And who would that be?"

"Well I learned some pretty crazy martial art shit from your doppelganger when I was younger. You were the one that really taught me some of the basics." Jon said. Ren looked at him..

"I wouldn't really describe my art like that, but really?"

"Yeah. And Pyrrha, and Yang. And a bunch of other guys."

"Wow Jonathan, I didn't know you had it in you." Yang said. She stood up and approached Jonathan, letting out her hand to help him up. Nora did the same for Ren.

"Well. Years of getting your ass kicked and learning from a ton of different people on how to fight is a starter." Jon said.

"It's some of the most impressive display of hand to hand combat that I've ever seen." Weiss said.

"Thanks, Ice Queen." Jon said, grinning.

"Hey! Why does everyone keep telling me that…" Weiss protested.

Jon turned over towards Jaune. Reaching into the pile of gear that was sitting in the corner, Jon took out sheathed knife. Attaching it to his belt, he unsheathed it.

"Get your sword and shield. Let's see what we can do, bud."

* * *

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Goodwitch asked.

"I want a full evaluation of what they can do on the field." Ironwood said.

"Why do you insist on sending them into dangerous territory? They don't have aura, I've told you this over and over again. They're basically civilians. They're not meant to fight against hordes and hordes of the Grimm!"

"And they're still alive after going toe to toe against my mechs with minimal equipment! Glynda, they're ready. I just want to see what they're capable of."

"They barely have had the opportunity to fight Grimm. What makes you think they can hold out against a horde?"

"Ozpin himself said that he trusts Jonathan and Rose to work in the field along with our huntsmen."

"James. Glynda, that's enough." Ozpin finally interrupted. Glynda Goodwitch, James Ironwood, and Professor Ozpin were gathered in Ozpin's office. "I never said that I trusted them to fight alongside our huntsmen. I only stated that I respected them the same way that I would respect any huntsman who is active in the field and fighting against the Grimm."

"Then what do you suppose we do? Jonathan's tip only gets us so far. And Qrow isn't around to scout out the location. If we account them as Civilian, they can only do so much."

"That said." Ozpin started again, eyeing Ironwood for interrupting him before finishing his thoughts. "I am curious to see how they do in the field."

"I was thinking about the missions for the students next week after the dance. Why not have Jonathan and Rose tag along with a team of students? " Glynda suggested.

Ozpin sat there thinking.

"I plan on sending Oobleck there to investigate. The Lancaster Squad can do reconnaissance. Or in some way arrive earlier than Oobleck and the team assigned to him."

"But do you think they're ready?" Glynda asked.

"Yes." Ozpin replied, thinking about how to fit the Lancaster Squad into an appropriate role.

* * *

"You guys seriously don't have anything better to do?" Jon asked.

"It's a Sunday. We don't really want to do anything." Yang said. Ruby yawned and leaned over on her. Nora laid her head down on Yang's lap. Rose stood in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe and watched the group.

"Right." Jon flipped his knife in the air before catching it. He turned towards Jaune, sword out and ready.

Jon bent his knees and held his knife with a hammer grip., unusually holding it with the blunt edge of the blade facing Jaune.

"You sure you're going to be okay?" Jaune asked. "I don't want to accidentally hurt you. Its a smaller blade."

Jon stepped back and stood up again, examining the blade. The tactical knife was large, 8 inches in length.

"I mean. It's not about size, it's about how you use it." Jon winked at Jaune.

"Not if you're literally the size of a fucking aircraft carrier.." Rose purred from the background.

"Rose. Don't be gross." Jon said, still intently looking at Jaune.

Ruby's head tilted slightly, a confused look on her felt slightly uncomfortable knowing that a more mature version of her voice was pervertedly purring. Yang and several others sitting down blushed.

Turning towards the blond knight, Jon rose his blade. Jaune got ready with his sword.

"When you get a chance to hit, swing. But stop before you hit me." Jon said. "Don't cleave me in half, bro."

"Got it." Jaune replied. He stayed in place.

Half a minute passed.

"Y'know. Whenever you're ready." Jon broke the silence.

"Y-yeah. I know." Jaune nervously replied. He continued to stay still. Jon sighed. He stepped forward and stabbed, Jaune responded with a back step and a block. Jon swung back and then went for an overhead strike, Jaune blocked again, Jon being careful to strike Jaune's sword, making sure he didn't over extend and accidentally cut his own arm off.

Jon pulled back, and left himself open, leaving his knife to the side and letting Jaune get the draw on him.

Except the blade never came. Jon stared straight into Jaune.

"Why didn't you attack?" Jon asked. Jaune shrugged.

"I didn't...I-" Jaune was cut off as Jon stepped forward and punched him across the face.

"Okay let's do this again." Jon said, getting ready again. Jaune recovered and was back on his feet. He felt his cheek, feeling the pain and brunt of the punch. Jaune breathed in, and exhaled.

Jon pushed forward with his knife again, going for a stab and cutting Jaune's side, the knife cutting through his T-Shirt and cutting his skin lightly. Pulling his knife back and then slashing forward again, Jaune blocked successfully, the cut on his side disappearing from his Aura. Jon flipped the knife and swung downward, Jaune making his blade flat and then blocking the attack by pushing off Jon's forearm. Jon swung his arm back, making himself open to an attack. Jaune didn't swing again.

"What the fuck man." Jon said, he pushed forward, weaving under Jaune's sword arm and then grabbing his forearm. Jon kicked forward, making the strength in Jaune's leg give out, making him fall over, Jon turned around, bent himself backwards and then flipped Jaune onto the ground face first. Jaune got up, Jon sheathed his knife, and then walked forward. Jaune stumbled around, trying to find his balance.

Pyrrha had a face of concern as Jaune awkwardly got up. She slowly started getting up.

"Aw...ow…" Jaune said, before being punched in the face again by Jon.

"Why."

Punch.

"Don't."

Punch.

"You."

Punch.

"Fucking."

Punch.

"Fight."

Punch.

"Back?!"

"Stop it! You're hurting him!" Pyrrha cried towards Jon.

Jaune fell over again on his back. He let go of his sword and then jumped back up, punching Jon across the face.

"YOU THINK I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT BACK?" Jaune barked. "GODS, I GET IT! I'M WEAK! I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH! YOU THINK I WANT TO JUST SIT BACK AND WATCH AS ALL MY FRIENDS DO ALL THE WORK? JAUNE, YOU CAN SIT BACK, JAUNE I CAN HELP YOU TRAIN, JAUNE, YOU SHOULD SIT OUT, JAUNE, YOU'RE JAUNE."

Jaune was panting. He realized what just happened and was said and then composed himself.

"Damn it, you made me lose my cool." He said, sighing. Jon started laughing. "What. Are you going to say something snarky? Are you going to say something witty? Am I going to grow up and be a total jerk?!"

"No dude. It's just that you landed a punch." Jon responded. He felt his cheek. "Nice hook by the way."

"What?"

"What did Pyrrha teach you?" Jon asked.

"How to use a sword?" Jaune replied.

"No, your emotions."

"That I need to be calm." Jaune responded. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"And that should be the way that you approach a bout or the Grimm!" Pyrrha said. She got defensive about the way that she taught Jaune, stepping in between Jaune and Jonathan.

"But he isn't you." Jon said.

"...What?" Pyrrha said, taken aback from Jon's statement.

"He's not you. Pyrrha." Jon said again. "My Pyrrha taught me to fight when I was younger. But in the end, you can teach a soldier techniques, how to fight, how to defend himself. But you can never teach him how to think. You need to let him learn how to do that on his own."

"T-That isn't your decision to make!" Pyrrha snapped.

"And you can't continue coddling him. You know that your relationship with him is purely symbiotic!" Jon snapped back. "Jaune is emotional. Let him use his emotions to fight!"

"What are you talking about?" Jaune asked.

"You're a quick thinker Jaune." Jon started. "You're good at defending, but you're too passive. And that's because you're trying so hard to be calm. And you can't keep relying on Pyrrha to keep training you. Use your training and shape your own way of fighting."

"What is...What is wrong with you?!" Pyrrha shouted, she walked up and slapped Jon across the face. She turned around and grabbed Jaune by the arm and then left the rooftop.

"Hey. Pyrrha, wait!" Jaune exclaimed as he awkwardly flailed his arms around. The two went past Rose.

"Her awkward noodle?" Rose asked, watching as Jaune basically was dragged away by Pyrrha.

There was an air of silence.

"I'll….I'll go talk to her." Yang said, running off following them. An air of silence followed, as Ren, Weiss, and Nora awkwardly got up and left, following Yang.

Jonathan sighed.

"That escalated quickly and dramatically." Rose said, looking at the group of individuals that left after Pyrrha and Jaune.

* * *

"Pyrrha! What are you doing?!" Jaune cried as he was dragged down the staircase. They reached the bottom of the staircase, reaching the top floor of dorm rooms.

"You are not practicing, you are not going to spar, you are not going to interacting with Jonathan." Pyrrha said coldly.

"What? What are you talking about? He hasn't done anything wrong."

"He's done enough." Pyrrha said. "As your partner, as someone who's helping you, I completely disapprove of you training with him."

"Pyrrha. What did- What did Jonathan say to you last night?"

"Nothing. I don't…." Pyrrha stopped in her tracks. She dropped Jaune and he fell to the floor. As he got up. Pyrrha collapsed onto her knees. Jaune reached as she fell, she folded her arms as if she were cold. "I don't want to lose this. I don't. I don't want to die!. I want to just let it last- And. And-"

"Pyrrha, what are you saying? Dying? What….?"

She burst out crying. She fell over and started banging on the floor with her fist.

"It's not...It's not fair!" She shouted at no one.

"Wait, Pyrrha, what...What isn't fair? You're not making any sense." Jaune said, taking a knee and trying to console Pyrrha.

Wiping her tears, Pyrrha shifted herself so that she was leaning and sitting against the wall.

"Pyrrha...What's going through your head right now…?"

"I…" Pyrrha choked out. "I don't know. I'm...I feel…I hate."

She sobbed.

"I'm confused…And I can't tell you. I shouldn't tell you."

Jaune sat down next to her. Pyrrha leaned on Jaune, sobbing into his shoulder.

"I don't...want to lose this…" Pyrrha said quietly. Jaune pat her head, and held her.

"Pyrrha...you're not making any sense…"

"And it never will…"

The two sat quietly, Pyrrha slowly leaned over, eventually lying down and resting her head on Jaune's lap..

"It's going to be okay…" Jaune whispered. "Jonathan was just training me."

Pyrrha's head rolled to look upwards, locking eyes with Jaune. She smiled through her tears.

"I love that about you…"

"What?"

"You're always so positive. So optimistic. So willing to learn…" She reached her hand up and touched Jaune's cheek. Jaune raised his arm and touched the back of her hand. He started blushing. "You're so wonderful."

The two rested there for a moment.

"Well. I can see that everything here is fine and dandy." Said a familiar voice. Pyrrha scrambled off of Jaune's lap and sat upright, face red.

Yang leaned on the wall next to them, grinning at the sight of the two together. "I suppose I don't really have to do much here, now do I?"

Jaune leaned a bit forward to look behind Yang, seeing the rest of the group from the rooftop minus Jon, Rose, and Ruby. His face slowly turned red. "It's not like that! What are you talking about Yang?"

Yang and the others laughed. As the laughter died down, Pyrrha closed her eyes and then leaned on Jaune.

"Pyrrha?! What are you doing?" Jaune said. Laughter started up again.

"I think at this rate Jaune, I don't care…" She said, smelling the hoodie she was wearing and then comforting herself into Jaune's body.

* * *

The rooftop slowly cleared of the students. Ruby, Rose, and Jon remained and sat down.

"I brought you guys some soda if you guys wanted it." Ruby said, she moved some cans over in front of the two soldiers. "Y'know, in case you and Jaune wanted a drink or to refresh after sparring, but I guess it's not really needed..."

"...How much soda do you drink?" Jon asked, observing the can.

"Uhm…." Ruby started, not making eye contact with Jon.

"You feeling alright?" Rose asked.

"Yeah." Ruby and Jon both replied.

"Oh. I thought she was-" Jon started."Never mind."

"Well. both of you." Rose said.

"Well, I think I'm okay." Ruby said. She brought her knees to her face while she sat. She put her cheek on her knee.

"You sure?"

"Yeah...I think I'm just concerned about Blake. She didn't sleep last night." Ruby continued.

"That's right. Where is she?"

"She said something about researching stuff about the White Fang…How about you? How are you guys doing?"

"Mostly adjusted for the time being." Jon said.

"Learning about the tech here is pretty fascinating." Rose said.

"Is that all?" Ruby asked.

"Yep." Jon and Rose both said.

The three sat there awkwardly. A silence came over them.

"Hey Ruby." Jon started. "If you knew that you were bound to die, how would you feel?"

"I dunno." Ruby said. She thought about it and after a solid 30 second pause she finally started speaking again. "I feel like I wouldn't mind knowing that I was going to die. If it's for a cause, I don't think I'd mind."

The three sat there.

"Really?" Jon asked. Rose made a fake shocked expression.

"Dude, I thought this was obvious. We've been dating for like 5 years." Rose deadpanned. Ruby giggled a bit.

"Yeah. But I-" Jon stopped. His faced flushed red. "Shut up, you get what I mean."

"Anyway, I think it's more convenient to learn that I'm bound to die." Ruby quietly said. "Everyone does eventually. I just want to make the most out of being a Huntress. I want to help people. My life would never really matter in the grand scheme of things. And to be honest, if I die helping others...it would be worth it..."

"That's...actually really mature." Jon said. He was punched in the arm again by Rose. "Hey!"

"Tell me I wasn't like this back when we both started training. Tell me." She deadpanned. Ruby giggled again.

"You know. You two really aren't that bad." Ruby said.

"Really?" Rose asked. "I find that hard to believe. Just last week I'm pretty sure you found me incredibly terrifying after we first met."

Ruby blushed. "I've...been watching."

"Like how you've basically stalked us whenever you got the chance?" Rose deadpanned. "Like the time you literally sat in our closet as we came up with lesson plans or the time when we found you under the bed while we were hardcore fu-"

Jonathan covered Rose's mouth and cut her off.

"Rose, lets be civil with younger you." Jon said. Rose moved his arm off of her mouth.

"Oh come on, she's gonna grow up to be an even bigger perv than Yang." Rose retorted.

"Well. Fucking...Ah, whatever." Jon said. Turning back towards Ruby. "Though I do have to agree. We do actually catch you following us whenever you have the chance."

Ruby blushed even harder. "I'm just curious! Meeting a future you is so cool!" She fangirled. "Just...I'm still afraid of becoming someone like you. I don't want to be just a hired gun."

"...I understand that." Rose said.

"But...I've accepted that my life is probably going to be dedicated to being a Huntress. I just want to make sure that I'm going to do it for the greater good. I want to try my best and learn, be the best huntress I can be!" Ruby said.

Rose pat her head and Jon sighed.

"Still. I feel like all we've brought is nothing but melodramatic bullshit and hardship to you guys." Jon said.

Ruby tilted her head in confusion.

Jon looked directly at Ruby.

"Ruby. What I'm about to tell you. You cannot tell anyone else." Jon said slowly.

"Yeah?"

Breaking eye contact, Jon softly spoke.

"In my world, Pyrrha died."

Ruby sat there, her face having a more somber expression.

"And it haunts me. It haunts me that back then, I wasn't able to do anything. I know that in this world, everything is different. You guys have Dust, CCT, scrolls, huntsmen, grimm, and so on. And I don't know what's going to happen over the course of the next year or two or whatever. I don't know when and where. I just know that in my world Pyrrha died. And if there are any parallels between my world and yours…"

Jonathan paused, looking at Ruby again.

"Please. Protect her." Jon begged.

Ruby hugged Jon, trying to comfort him.

"I will." She said softly.

"And I don't know if I made the right choice in telling her!" Jon said loudly. "Fuck!"

"It's going to be okay…" Rose said, joining the hug and trying to comfort Jon.

"Is that why she's so aggressive when she's near you?" Ruby asked.

"Probably." Jon said. "I think the when it comes to mortality, the 'Invincible girl' would be the last person that people would considering dying. She's facing the idea of her inevitable mortality. It's...it broke her in some fashion."

"Oh." Ruby stated.

Ruby and Rose both moved off of Jon, sitting back down on the roof.

"I think at this rate, she'd just rather not be associated with me. Or want to make sure that she spends as much time with Jaune as she could. Or is making sure that Jaune doesn't grow into me." Jon continued.

"She's been kind of aggressive when I'm with her." Ruby said. "Like. Really aggressive."

"She's totally marking Jaune." Rose said. "Same thing I'm doing to Jonathan."

Rose purred and leaned onto Jonathan's shoulder, kissing him on the cheek. Ruby swung her arms in front of her.

"Ack, I don't even have an interest in him! I think...I mean...he's sweet and..." Ruby said with a red face. "He's...he's my best friend! I can't even think of him being a boyfriend...or...whatever you two are?"

"We're dating." Rose and Jon both said, simultaneously.

Ruby kept blushing. "It's weird knowing that…"

"Anyway. I'm worried that Pyrrha's gonna get more reckless over time." Jon said. "Ruby. Please. Protect her. Even if she gets annoyed with you."

"I'll do it. I promise." Ruby said.

The three of them sat quietly. Ruby took out her scroll and checked the time.

"I'm...gonna go. It's getting kinda late. I need to do some last minute homework." Ruby stuck out her tongue as she got up. "Its for your class."

"I'm gonna fail you if you don't get it done!" Rose shouted. Ruby started running into the building and ran away.

"I'll get it done! I'll get it done!" Ruby shouted as her voice faded away.

Jon and Rose were left on the rooftop.

"You alright?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. I'm just worried about what's going to happen. Pyrrha's pissed at me, Jaune probably dislikes me, I know that Ruby's sorta still iffy with me, and so on." Jon scoffed. "I'm a fucking lousy example of a goddamn person. Why did your mom choose me? Why didn't she choose Weiss. Or Ren. Or Yang?"

"You're fine…" Rose said. "What you do now is to ensure that you're aiming for a better tomorrow. And to be frank. I think...I think that's all we can aim for."

Jon sighed.

"I hope you're right."

* * *

 **Hey guys.**

 **It's been awhile, huh? A few months to be exact. I'm sorry for not posting a ton for this story. I've had this done for over a month and a half now, hell, I'm halfway through the seventh chapter before having a bit of trouble of where to progress it.**

 **The problem I have right now is the fact that I'm genuinely fucking scared of posting things because I feel like I'm absolute garbo at writing. Not to mention that I've been incredibly busy with a ton of schoolwork. Trying to find a job, as well as balance classes, running a club, my current job, and a relationship, I'm trying to make sure that I have time to write.**

 **So lately, I've been writing "When did my life become a dating sim?", it's far more light hearted and it takes that unoriginal idea of crossing over with the Gamer and turns it into a dating sim.**

 **Anyway, I'll try to get this story out when I have to time. I hope you guys that you enjoyed this chapter, and to be frank, I'm creatively bankrupt as I'm trying to link the next big arc and what's going on now. I think this chapter is garbage.**

 **I'm gonna go and finish the second release of this project right now.**

 **-Acacia**


End file.
